Trenching and Excavation SWMS

Suits excavation, civil, plumbing, drainage, landscaping and building contractors who dig footings, service trenches and pipe trenches by hand and by machine. It covers planning and ground checks, securing the area, access and fall protection, working around the excavator, spoil and loads at the edge, benching, battering, shoring and shields, inspection and entry, backfill, and responding to a collapse. Operating the excavator itself, and digging near underground services, are covered by separate SWMS.

A SWMS is legally required when the construction work is in or near a trench deeper than 1.5 metres, where powered mobile plant moves, or on or near gas mains, chemical, fuel or refrigerant lines or energised services (WHS Regulation sections 291 and 299); for shallower digs with none of these this document works as a written safe work procedure, because the risks of excavation work must still be managed (section 305). Because the approved Queensland silica code treats construction work with a risk of silica exposure as work in an area that may have a contaminated atmosphere, you can also tick that item (WHS Regulation s 291(l)) when breaking or cutting concrete or rock creates silica dust.

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

What is covered in our trenching and excavation SWMS?

After the standard pre-start checks, the job steps run from “Plan the excavation and check ground, structures and services information” to “Respond to a trench collapse, flooding or gas release”. The hazards and controls include:

• Trench wall collapse and engulfment
• Shoring, shields and boxes failing or used wrongly
• Workers entering a trench before it is supported
• Spoil, plant and materials overloading the edge
• Falls into trenches and pits
• Workers struck by the excavator or tipper trucks
• Cranes and pumps set up too close to the trench
• Gas, fumes and low oxygen in trenches
• Flooding and water in the trench
• Damage to neighbouring footings and structures
• Asbestos cement pipes and contaminated soil
• Silica dust, noise and vibration from breaking
• Open excavations left unguarded overnight
• Rescuers exposed to a second collapse

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 or near a shaft or trench with an excavated depth greater than 1.5m, or a tunnel
• 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 construction work
• Site induction, including the emergency plan, rescue arrangements and the excavation’s exclusion zones
• Competent person, for example an engineer or geotechnical engineer, to advise on ground conditions and to design or approve benching, battering, shoring, shields or boxes; a geotechnical engineer’s written, time-limited advice is needed if a trench 1.5 m or more deep will not be supported
• Competent person to inspect the excavation and its support before each shift, after rain and after any ground movement
• Operators of excavators and other earthmoving plant trained and assessed as competent on the machine and attachments (no high risk work licence class applies to operating an excavator); operating the excavator itself is in the separate Excavator SWMS
• High risk work licence in the dogging class, or a higher rigging class (Schedule 3 items 4 to 7), for anyone who applies slinging techniques to sling a trench shield, shoring or pipe, or who directs a plant operator in moving a load that is out of the operator’s view (Schedule 19, dogging work)
• Trained, competent operator of any cable and pipe locator or ground-penetrating radar (Excavation Work Code of Practice 2021 section 3.6)
• Spotters and standby persons briefed on hand signals, the exclusion zone and the emergency plan
• Asbestos awareness so crews recognise asbestos cement pipes and other suspect material found in the ground, stop and report; training under WHS Regulation s 445 for workers the business reasonably believes may be involved in asbestos removal work or asbestos-related work
• Crystalline silica training (VET accredited course or training approved by the regulator) where the dust assessment finds breaking or cutting high risk (WHS Regulation s 529CD)
• Workers who use a gas monitor trained in its use and alarms
• An adequate number of workers trained in first aid, and a first aid kit on site (WHS Regulation s 42; First Aid in the Workplace Code of Practice 2021)

Legislation and codes of practice referenced

• Work Health and Safety Act 2011 (Qld)
• Work Health and Safety Regulation 2011 (Qld)
• Work Health and Safety Regulation 2011 (Qld): ss 304 to 306 (excavation work, underground essential services information and trenches)
• Work Health and Safety Regulation 2011 (Qld): ss 43 and 62 to 77 (emergency plans and confined spaces) and ss 214 and 215 (powered mobile plant)
• Work Health and Safety Regulation 2011 (Qld): chapter 8 (asbestos) ss 419, 422, 445 and 446, and chapter 8A (crystalline silica) ss 529A to 529CD
• Excavation Work Code of Practice 2021
• Managing Risks of Plant in the Workplace Code of Practice 2021
• Managing the Risk of Falls at Workplaces Code of Practice 2021
• Confined Spaces Code of Practice 2021
• Hazardous Manual Tasks Code of Practice 2021
• Managing respirable crystalline silica dust exposure in construction and manufacturing of construction elements Code of Practice 2022
• Managing Noise and Preventing Hearing Loss at Work Code of Practice 2021
• Managing Risks of Hazardous Chemicals in the Workplace Code of Practice 2021
• How to Manage and Control Asbestos in the Workplace Code of Practice 2021
• Managing the Work Environment and Facilities 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
• Mobile Crane Code of Practice 2024 (cranes near excavations, and earthmoving plant used as a crane)
• Concrete Pumping Code of Practice 2019 (concrete placing booms near excavations)
• Electrical Safety Act 2002 (Qld)
• Electrical Safety Regulation 2026 (Qld): ss 13 to 15 (overhead and underground electric lines) and the exclusion zones in schedule 2
• Electrical Safety Code of Practice 2020 – Working near overhead and underground electric lines (distances come from the 2026 Regulation)

What you get

• An editable Microsoft Word document (21 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, waterproof where the ground is wet; hard hat in and beside excavations; high-visibility clothing; safety glasses
• Emergency arrangements for: trench collapse or person trapped, flooding, or gas, fumes or low oxygen in the trench and damaged service found or struck
• 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.