Street Sweeper Operation SWMS

Suits councils, cleaning contractors and civil crews operating road and car park sweepers. It covers route and traffic planning, pre-start checks, entering traffic with warning devices, sweeping, dust and spray control, hazardous debris, emptying the hopper and cleaning and maintenance. Water carts and pothole patching are separate SWMS.

Road sweeping is not high risk construction work by itself, and 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 and task risk assessment. Where the sweeping is part of construction work on, in or adjacent to a road in use by traffic other than pedestrians, tick the road item, and tick the powered mobile plant item where plant moves in the area (s 291(n) and (o)).

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

What Is Covered In Our Street Sweeper Operation SWMS?

After the standard pre-start checks, the job steps run from “Plan the route and the traffic arrangements” to “Clean, maintain and park the sweeper”. The hazards and controls include:

• Collision with a slow-moving sweeper
• Being struck from behind in traffic
• Pedestrians and cyclists in blind spots
• Reversing in car parks
• Overhead power lines and clearances
• Falling hopper and hopper door
• Dust and fine particles
• Dust and water spray on traffic
• Sharps and hazardous debris
• Spills and fire
• Brush changes and blockages
• Fatigue and long shifts

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

• Operator licence for the class of vehicle the sweeper requires on the road
• Operator trained and assessed as competent on the sweeper, its hopper and its dust control
• General construction induction training card (white card) only where the sweeping is part of construction work on a site
• Accredited traffic controller where the plan needs a person to direct traffic
• Site induction

Legislation and Codes of Practice Referenced

• Work Health and Safety Act 2011 (Qld)
• Work Health and Safety Regulation 2011 (Qld)
• Managing Risks of Plant in the Workplace Code of Practice 2021
• Traffic Management for Construction or Maintenance Work Code of Practice 2008
• Managing Noise and Preventing Hearing Loss at Work Code of Practice 2021
• Hazardous Manual Tasks Code of Practice 2021
• Electrical Safety Regulation 2026 (Qld): overhead power line exclusion zones

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: high-visibility clothing; safety boots; gloves for handling debris and brushes; safety glasses
• Emergency arrangements for: collision or person struck and fire in the hopper or engine bay
• 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.