Concreting SWMS

For concreters and builders pouring footings, slabs and paths. It follows a real pour from locating services and setting up site access through formwork, reinforcement, receiving and placing concrete, finishing and curing to cutting, stripping and pack-up.

Tick the contaminated atmosphere item (WHS Regulation s 291(l)) on the form when sawing, drilling or grinding hardened concrete creates silica dust, because the approved Queensland silica code treats work with a risk of silica exposure as high risk construction work.

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

What is covered in our concreting SWMS template?

After the standard pre-start checks, the job steps run from “Locate underground services and check overhead lines” to “Strip formwork, clean up and pack up”. The hazards and controls include:

• Striking underground services
• Boom, truck or excavator contact with power lines
• Trucks and the pump striking workers
• Excavation collapse at footings
• Formwork shifting or collapsing under load
• Falls from deck and form edges
• Exposed reinforcement and tie wire
• Pipeline whip and blockage pressure
• Wet concrete burns to skin and eyes
• Power trowel and engine fume hazards
• Silica dust from cutting and grinding concrete
• Falling forms and props when stripping

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:

• 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 work on construction sites
• High risk work licence for the concrete placing boom class for the pump operator using a placing boom
• High risk work licence for the relevant dogging, rigging or crane class when a crane lifts forms, reinforcement or concrete skips
• Verification of competency or equivalent evidence of training for operators of the excavator, power trowel, concrete saw and other plant used
• Engineer, or a competent person where the formwork code allows it, for formwork design and certification
• Silica training for workers who may be at risk of breathing concrete dust when the processing is assessed as high risk
• Site induction and daily pre-start meeting

Legislation and codes of practice referenced

• Work Health and Safety Act 2011 (Qld)
• Work Health and Safety Regulation 2011 (Qld)
• Concrete Pumping Code of Practice 2019
• Formwork Code of Practice 2016
• Excavation Work Code of Practice 2021
• Managing respirable crystalline silica dust exposure in construction and manufacturing of construction elements Code of Practice 2022
• Managing the Risk of Falls at Workplaces Code of Practice 2021
• Hazardous Manual Tasks Code of Practice 2021
• Managing Risks of Hazardous Chemicals in the Workplace Code of Practice 2021
• Managing Noise and Preventing Hearing Loss at Work Code of Practice 2021
• Managing Risks of Plant in the Workplace Code of Practice 2021
• Traffic Management for Construction or Maintenance Work Code of Practice 2008
• Mobile Crane Code of Practice 2024 (when a mobile crane lifts forms, reinforcement or skips)
• Managing the Work Environment and Facilities Code of Practice 2021
• How to Manage Work Health and Safety Risks Code of Practice 2021
• Electrical Safety Act 2002 (Qld)
• Electrical Safety Regulation 2026 (Qld): overhead and underground electric line duties and Schedule 2 exclusion zones
• Electrical Safety Code of Practice 2020 – Working near overhead and underground electric lines

What you get

• An editable Microsoft Word document (16 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
• 11 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, and safety gumboots when working in wet concrete; long-sleeved, high-visibility shirt and long trousers; safety glasses, and a face shield when cutting or grinding
• Emergency arrangements for: contact with an overhead power line, wet concrete or cement in the eyes or on skin and excavation collapse
• 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.