Aerated Concrete (AAC) Panel and Block Installation SWMS

Suits builders and block and panel installers working with autoclaved aerated concrete. It covers unloading, setting out, cutting and chasing, thin-bed adhesive, laying blocks, lifting and fixing floor and wall panels, and working from low scaffolds.

Unloading and lifting plant moves in the work area, so the powered mobile plant item is pre-ticked, and the precast concrete item is pre-ticked because this SWMS treats AAC panel installation as precast concrete work. Tick the falls item (more than 2 metres) when a person could fall that far, and tick the trench item if an excavation is deeper than 1.5 metres.

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

What Is Covered In Our Aerated Concrete (AAC) Panel and Block Installation SWMS?

After the standard pre-start checks, the job steps run from “Receive, unload and stack panels and blocks” to “Clean up and remove waste”. The hazards and controls include:

• Panels and packs dropped or swung during unloading
• Heavy blocks and manual handling strain
• AAC cutting dust as respirable crystalline silica
• Noise and kickback from power saws
• Alkaline adhesive burns to skin and eyes
• Panel falling from lifting gear
• Unpropped panels falling
• Crane contact with overhead power lines
• Falls from low scaffolds and platforms
• Blocks and tools falling onto people below
• Dust spread during clean-up

High Risk Construction Work

These high risk construction work items (WHS Regulation 2011 (Qld) s 291) are already ticked because they are part of this work. Tick any others that apply to your job:

• Involves tilt-up or precast concrete
• Is carried out in an area at a workplace in which there is any movement of powered mobile plant

Licences, Training and Competency

• General construction induction training card (white card) for every worker, and the site induction
• Crystalline silica training (a VET accredited course or training approved by the regulator) for workers who cut AAC with power tools or work near that cutting, where the cutting is high risk (WHS Regulation s 529CD)
• Dogging high risk work licence for any worker who slings a panel or directs a crane operator when the load is out of the operator’s view
• High risk work licence for the mobile crane class, or the vehicle loading crane class for a vehicle loading crane of 10 metre tonnes or more, that matches the lifting plant used for panels
• High risk work licence for the forklift truck class for any forklift operator unloading or moving packs and panels
• High risk work licence for the scaffolding class needed by any person who erects, alters or dismantles a scaffold from which a person or object could fall more than 4 m
• Panel installers trained in the manufacturer’s installation method for the panel system used

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 respirable crystalline silica dust exposure in construction and manufacturing of construction elements Code of Practice 2022
• Managing Risks of Hazardous Chemicals in the Workplace Code of Practice 2021
• Preparation of Safety Data Sheets for Hazardous Chemicals Code of Practice 2021
• Hazardous Manual Tasks Code of Practice 2021
• Managing the Risk of Falls at Workplaces Code of Practice 2021
• Scaffolding Code of Practice 2021
• Mobile Crane Code of Practice 2024
• Tilt-up and Pre-cast Construction Industry Code of Practice 2003
• Managing Noise and Preventing Hearing Loss at Work Code of Practice 2021
• Managing Risks of Plant in the Workplace Code of Practice 2021

What You Get

• An editable Microsoft Word document (13 A4 landscape pages). Type your business, client and job details once and they fill in on every page, with a space for your logo
• 8 job steps for this work, each with its hazards, controls, initial and residual risk scores and the person responsible
• PPE listed for this job: respiratory protective equipment that complies with AS/NZS 1716 and is selected, fitted and maintained under AS/NZS 1715 (WHS Regulation s 529B); safety glasses or goggles
• Emergency arrangements for: alkaline adhesive in the eyes or on skin and panel falls or slips from the lifting gear
• 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.