Leaf Blower SWMS

Suits groundskeepers, landscapers, cleaners, building maintenance crews and site teams who use petrol or battery leaf blowers on paths, car parks, gardens and building sites. It follows the job from checking the blower and the work area through refuelling or charging, blowing and clean-up to storage.

A SWMS is legally required under WHS Regulation s 299 when leaf blowing is construction work that meets a high risk item in s 291 (for example work beside a road in use, among moving powered mobile plant or in dust that contains silica: tick the contaminated atmosphere item, s 291(l)); otherwise it works as a written safe work procedure or task risk assessment.

New to SWMS? Read What is a safe work method statement?

What is covered in our leaf blower SWMS?

After the standard pre-start checks, the job steps run from “Pre-start leaf blower check” to “Shut down, clear up and store”. The hazards and controls include:

• Noise above the exposure standard
• Hand-arm vibration
• Flying debris striking eyes, people and property
• Dust, mould and animal droppings
• Silica dust from dry blowing concrete or masonry
• Petrol fire and fuel contact
• Lithium-ion battery charging fires
• Exhaust fumes in enclosed spaces
• Sharps and broken glass in leaf litter
• Vehicles and mobile plant near the work area
• Back and shoulder strain from carrying the blower
• Heat illness and slips on wet leaves

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

• No high risk work licence is required to operate a leaf blower
• Training in the manufacturer’s start-up, safe operation and refuelling or charging instructions for the leaf blower
• Instruction in how to fit, use and maintain the hearing protection and respirator supplied
• General construction induction training card (white card) when working on a construction site
• Site induction

Legislation and codes of practice referenced

• Work Health and Safety Act 2011 (Qld)
• Work Health and Safety Regulation 2011 (Qld)
• How to Manage Work Health and Safety Risks Code of Practice 2021
• Managing Noise and Preventing Hearing Loss at Work Code of Practice 2021
• Hazardous Manual Tasks Code of Practice 2021
• Managing Risks of Plant in the Workplace Code of Practice 2021
• Managing Risks of Hazardous Chemicals in the Workplace Code of Practice 2021
• Managing the Work Environment and Facilities Code of Practice 2021 (heat)
• Managing respirable crystalline silica dust exposure in construction and manufacturing of construction elements Code of Practice 2022 (housekeeping and blowers, s 8.1 and Appendix 4)
• Traffic Management for Construction or Maintenance Work Code of Practice 2008 (work beside roads)
• Safe Work Australia model Code of Practice: Managing the risks of biological hazards at work (guidance)

What you get

• An editable Microsoft Word document (13 pages), laid out on A4 landscape pages. Type your business, client and job details once and they fill in on every page, with a space for your logo
• 7 job steps for this work, each with its hazards, controls, initial and residual risk scores and the person responsible
• PPE listed for this job: hearing protection (earmuffs or earplugs) rated for the noise level of the blower; safety glasses with side shields or goggles; face shield when heavy debris is thrown up
• Emergency arrangements for: fuel fire or burns, debris in the eye and petrol spill
• 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.

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