Backhoe Loader SWMS

Suits civil, drainage, landscaping and building contractors who use a backhoe loader to dig, trench and load. It follows the job in order, from setting up the work area and locating underground services to the machine check, stabiliser set-up, digging, front loader work, lifting pipes, breaker work and parking up. Excavators and front-end loaders have their own SWMS.

Using a backhoe loader on construction work is high risk construction work because powered mobile plant moves in the work area (WHS Regulation ss 289 and 291(o)), so that item is ticked and a SWMS is required before it starts (s 299); away from construction work this document works as a written safe work procedure or task risk assessment. You can also tick the items the job involves, such as a trench or shaft deeper than 1.5 metres, energised electrical installations or services, gas mains, fuel or chemical lines, a road in use, and the contaminated atmosphere item if the work creates silica dust, as the Queensland silica code advises.

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 Backhoe Loader SWMS?

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

• Striking underground cables, gas and water lines
• Contact with overhead power lines
• Machine rollover on slopes and trench edges
• Workers struck or crushed by the machine, hoe or loader
• Slips and falls when climbing on or off the machine
• Stabiliser legs crushing feet or letting the machine tip
• Trench collapse and falling into excavations
• Attachments dropping off the quick hitch
• Dropped loads when lifting pipes with the hoe
• Front loader loads falling or tipping the machine
• Flying fragments and noise from breaker work
• Respirable crystalline silica dust, noise and sun exposure
• Machine rolling away when parked

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 construction work
• Operator trained and assessed as competent on the backhoe loader and every attachment used (Schedule 3 of the WHS Regulation has no high risk work licence class for backhoe loaders)
• Site induction
• Documented familiarisation training for the operator on the machine’s quick hitch and, where the hoe lifts pipes or shoring, on lifting in crane mode
• High risk work licence in the dogging class, or a higher rigging class (Schedule 3), for anyone who slings a load or directs a plant operator in the movement of a load when the load is out of the operator’s view (Schedule 19, dogging work)
• Spotter or safety observer briefed on hand signals, the exclusion zone and the power line distances
• Trained operator for the cable and pipe locator
• Accredited traffic controllers where traffic is directed on or beside a road (Transport Operations (Road Use Management – Accreditation and Other Provisions) Regulation 2015 ss 54 and 55)
• 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
• Mobile Crane Code of Practice 2024 (earthmoving plant used as a crane, and quick hitches)
• 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
• Managing the Work Environment and Facilities Code of Practice 2021
• Hazardous Manual Tasks Code of Practice 2021
• Traffic Management for Construction or Maintenance Work Code of Practice 2008
• 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 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)
• Transport Operations (Road Use Management – Accreditation and Other Provisions) Regulation 2015 (Qld): traffic controllers
• AS 4772 Earthmoving machinery – Quickhitches for excavators and backhoe loaders (named in the Mobile Crane Code)
• 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

What You Get

• An editable Microsoft Word document (21 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.