Termite Baiting and Monitoring SWMS

Suits pest management businesses and termite system installers who place in-ground and above-ground stations around houses and commercial buildings and return to inspect and refill them. It covers site assessment, locating underground services, hand digging, installing stations, handling bait, repeat inspections and records.

Station installation and servicing is not high risk construction work by itself, so no items are pre-ticked. A SWMS is required by law only for high risk construction work (WHS Regulation s 299); otherwise this works as a written safe work procedure. Tick the energised electrical installations or services item (item 10) or the chemical, fuel or refrigerant lines item (item 9) when station holes are dug on or near those services.

New to SWMS? Read What Is A Safe Work Method Statement?

What Is Covered In Our Termite Baiting and Monitoring SWMS?

After the standard pre-start checks, the job steps run from “Plan the station layout and assess the site” to “Clean up, dispose and record”. The hazards and controls include:

• Striking buried electrical, gas and water services
• Back and knee strain from digging and kneeling
• Exposure to bait and monitoring products
• Spills and contamination around drains and gardens
• Bites and stings under lids and in garden beds
• Falls while fixing above-ground stations
• Suspect asbestos in old cladding and eaves
• Children and pets reaching open stations
• Heat, sun and slippery lawns
• Mowers and vehicles near stations
• Open holes and trips on site
• Missing station records and missed inspections

High Risk Construction Work

None of the high risk construction work items (WHS Regulation 2011 (Qld) s 291) are pre-ticked, because this job is not high risk construction work by itself. Tick any that apply on your site.

Licences, Training and Competency

• Queensland pest management licence for each technician who places or refills bait that contains a pesticide, because using a substance to kill a pest or inhibit its feeding is a pest control activity that must be carried out in the authorised way (Medicines and Poisons Act 2019 ss 19(3) and 44)
• A business offering the work holds a pest management licence or employs a licence holder to carry it out (Medicines and Poisons Act 2019 s 45)
• QBCC termite management (chemical) licence for each technician who inspects stations and gives the owner advice or a report on termite activity or the baiting system: inspecting or investigating a completed building and giving advice or a report about its termite management systems or termite infestation is within this class (Queensland Building and Construction Commission Regulation 2018 sch 2 pt 56 s 2(2)), the physical class covers only particular physical systems, and no small-job value exemption applies (sch 1 s 2(b))
• General construction induction training card (white card) for anyone who digs station holes or fits stations: a hole deeper than it is wide is a shaft, so making it is excavation work and construction work (WHS Regulation Schedule 19 and ss 289(2)(f), 316 and 317)
• Trained operator for the cable and pipe locator
• Training in the termite system installed, the product label and SDS, handling and spill clean-up, with records kept
• First aid: access to first aid equipment and a trained first aider as the work requires (WHS Regulation s 42), including treatment of bites and stings
• No high risk work licence class in Schedule 3 of the WHS Regulation applies to this work

Legislation and Codes of Practice Referenced

• Work Health and Safety Act 2011 (Qld)
• Work Health and Safety Regulation 2011 (Qld)
• Managing Risks of Hazardous Chemicals in the Workplace Code of Practice 2021
• Labelling of Workplace Hazardous Chemicals Code of Practice 2021
• Preparation of Safety Data Sheets for Hazardous Chemicals Code of Practice 2021
• Excavation Work Code of Practice 2021
• Hazardous Manual Tasks Code of Practice 2021
• Managing the Work Environment and Facilities Code of Practice 2021
• Managing the Risk of Falls at Workplaces Code of Practice 2021
• How to Manage and Control Asbestos in the Workplace Code of Practice 2021
• First Aid in the Workplace Code of Practice 2021
• How to Manage Work Health and Safety Risks Code of Practice 2021
• Medicines and Poisons Act 2019 (Qld)
• Queensland Building and Construction Commission Regulation 2018 (Qld): schedule 2 part 56
• Electrical Safety Act 2002 (Qld)
• Electrical Safety Regulation 2026 (Qld): underground electric lines (ss 14 and 15)
• Electrical Safety Code of Practice 2020 – Working near overhead and underground electric lines

What You Get

• An editable Microsoft Word document (14 A4 landscape pages). Type your business, client and job details once and they fill in on every page, with a space for your logo
• 10 job steps for this work, each with its hazards, controls, initial and residual risk scores and the person responsible
• PPE listed for this job: safety boots or closed work shoes with a non-slip sole; chemical-resistant gloves when handling bait, monitors and used materials; safety glasses; long trousers and long-sleeve shirt
• Emergency arrangements for: chemical contact, snake bite and striking a buried cable or pipe
• Plus the parts every Work Safety QLD SWMS shares, from the s 291 checklist to the worker sign-on sheet (see the layout in our free SWMS template)

Adjust it for your site, plant and crew, and talk it through with your workers before work starts. Please make sure you read our Disclaimer before downloading this SWMS.

Checked against the Queensland laws and codes of practice listed above. Last reviewed November 2026.