Bulk Earthworks SWMS

Suits civil and earthworks contractors, subdivision builders and principal contractors who run several items of plant on one site. It covers the plant movement plan, underground services and overhead lines, site access and haul roads, separating people from plant, cut and fill, tipping, compaction, dust and wet weather. Operating individual machines is covered by the separate Excavator SWMS and Front-End Loader SWMS.

Moving powered mobile plant is part of every earthworks job, so that item is ticked; the energised services item is ticked because overhead lines and underground services are dealt with in this SWMS, and you can clear it for a site with none on or near the work. You can also tick the contaminated atmosphere item (WHS Regulation s 291(l)) when rock ripping, cutting or breaking creates silica dust, 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.

Learn More: What Is A Safe Work Method Statement?
Have you ever been asked to provide a SWMS on a project in Queensland? Read our guide to what a Safe Work Method Statement is and when you need one.

What Is Covered In Our Bulk Earthworks SWMS?

The job steps run in the order the work is done, from pre-start checks to finishing up. The hazards and controls include:

• Plant striking or crushing people on foot
• Trucks and plant reversing into people and other plant
• Striking underground electricity, gas and water services
• Plant or raised tipper trays contacting overhead power lines
• Cut faces and batters collapsing
• Falls from crests and plant overturning at edges
• Trucks overturning at tip heads and fill edges
• Plant meeting road traffic at site entries and exits
• Poorly built haul roads and blind corners
• Asbestos and contaminated material in fill
• Silica dust from haul roads and ripped rock
• Bogged plant and wet-weather rollovers
• Noise, heat and fatigue on long shifts

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 on or near energised electrical installations or services
• 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, and a site induction that covers the traffic management plan, routes, signals and exclusion zones
• Operators trained and assessed as competent on each plant item and its attachments (no high risk work licence class applies to operating excavators, loaders, dozers, graders, scrapers or rollers for their designed purpose)
• Current driver licence for the class of each truck and vehicle driven
• Spotters trained in the site’s hand signals or radio calls, the machines’ blind spots and the exclusion zones
• Safety observer trained for the role where plant works near overhead power lines
• Trained operator of the cable and pipe locator
• Geotechnical engineer or other competent person to set batter slopes, benches, set-backs and any ground support
• Trained traffic controllers where traffic control is needed on or beside a road
• Asbestos identification and safe handling training for workers who may meet asbestos in fill, soil or buried waste
• Crystalline silica training (VET accredited course or training approved by the regulator) where the dust assessment finds the work high risk

Legislation and Codes of Practice Referenced

• Work Health and Safety Act 2011 (Qld)
• Work Health and Safety Regulation 2011 (Qld)
• Excavation 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 (road interface)
• Managing respirable crystalline silica dust exposure in construction and manufacturing of construction elements Code of Practice 2022
• AS/NZS 1716:2012 (Respiratory protective devices) and AS/NZS 1715:2009 (Selection, use and maintenance of respiratory protective equipment), as named in WHS Regulation s 529B
• Managing Noise and Preventing Hearing Loss at Work Code of Practice 2021
• Managing the Work Environment and Facilities 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 Risk of Falls at Workplaces Code of Practice 2021 (edges of excavations)
• How to Manage Work Health and Safety Risks Code of Practice 2021
• Work Health and Safety Consultation, Co-operation and Co-ordination Code of Practice 2021
• Electrical Safety Act 2002 (Qld)
• Electrical Safety Regulation 2026 (Qld): overhead and underground electric lines, exclusion zones in schedule 2
• Electrical Safety Code of Practice 2020 – Working near overhead and underground electric lines (distances come from the 2026 Regulation)
• Heavy Vehicle National Law (Queensland), applied by the Heavy Vehicle National Law Act 2012 (Qld): chain of responsibility for trucks on public roads (s 26C)
• Safe Work Australia model Code of Practice: Managing the risk of fatigue at work (guidance)

What You Get

• An editable Microsoft Word document (18 pages), laid out on A4 landscape pages
• Business, client, job and document details typed once and filled in on every page, plus a space for your logo
• The high risk construction work checklist, worded as WHS Regulation s 291, and the construction project question (s 292)
• A worker and health and safety representative consultation record
• Qualifications, plant, PPE, hazardous chemicals, safety equipment, permits, references and emergency arrangements filled in for this work
• A 5 x 5 risk matrix, and job steps with initial and residual risk scores and the people responsible
• Implementing, monitoring and review requirements, an additional controls log, revision history and a worker sign-on sheet

Review and adjust it for your site, your plant and the way your crew does the job, and talk it through with your workers before work starts. If you have any trouble downloading this SWMS, you can contact us at any time. Please make sure you read our Disclaimer before downloading this SWMS.