Scissor Lift SWMS

For electricians, painters, builders, maintenance crews and hire customers who work from scissor lifts. It follows the job from planning and the pre-use check through travel, ground set-up, power line clearances, working from the platform and platform rescue to shutting down, and it says plainly that Queensland has no high risk work licence class for scissor lifts. Boom lifts and other elevating work platforms have their own SWMS.

Using a scissor lift is not high risk construction work by itself. It becomes so when the work is construction work that involves a risk of a person falling more than 2 metres (item 0, WHS Regulation s 291(a)) or is carried out in an area where powered mobile plant moves (item 14, s 291(o)), the two items ticked, and a SWMS is then required before the work starts (s 299); otherwise this document works as a written safe work procedure or task risk assessment.

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 Scissor Lift SWMS?

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

• Tip-over on slopes, soft ground and holes
• Falls from the platform or while climbing in and out
• Crushing against beams, ceilings and structures
• Hands and bodies caught by the scissor arms, extension deck and gate
• Overloading the platform or extension deck
• Contact with overhead power lines
• Tools and materials falling on people below
• Collisions with people, vehicles and plant while travelling
• Lift rolling or tipping off ramps and trailers
• Collapse of slabs, covers and floors under the lift
• Wind loading and lightning
• Stranded or trapped operator and platform rescue
• Suspension trauma after a fall into a harness
• Fire and gas from refuelling and battery charging

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:

• Involves a risk of a person falling more than 2m
• Is carried out in an area at a workplace in which there is any movement of powered mobile plant

Licences, Training and Competency

• Schedule 3 of the WHS Regulation has no high risk work licence class for scissor lifts: its only elevating work platform class is item 21, the use of a boom-type elevating work platform where the length of the boom is 11 m or more
• Operators trained, instructed and assessed as competent on the make and model of scissor lift used, including the platform and ground controls, tilt and overload alarms, emergency lowering and the manufacturer’s limits (WHS Regulation s 39)
• A card or ticket that a hire company or principal contractor asks for is a site or industry requirement, not a licence under the WHS Regulation
• Ground person trained to use the ground controls and the emergency lowering system for the model on site, and to raise the alarm
• Everyone on the job briefed on the rescue plan for a stranded or trapped person on the platform, with first aid equipment, facilities and trained first aiders as the work needs (WHS Regulation s 42)
• Training in fitting, inspecting and using a harness for anyone who wears one under the risk assessment or site rules
• Safety observer trained for the role where the lift works near overhead power lines
• General construction induction training card (white card) for construction work, and site induction

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 78 to 80 and 306D (falls), ss 206 to 215 (plant and powered mobile plant), ss 54 and 55 and 315B to 315M (falling objects)
• Managing the Risk of Falls at Workplaces Code of Practice 2021
• Managing Risks of Plant in the Workplace Code of Practice 2021
• How to Manage Work Health and Safety Risks Code of Practice 2021
• First Aid in the Workplace Code of Practice 2021
• Managing Risks of Hazardous Chemicals in the Workplace Code of Practice 2021
• Electrical Safety Act 2002 (Qld)
• Electrical Safety Regulation 2026 (Qld): overhead power line exclusion zones, Schedule 2
• Electrical Safety Code of Practice 2020 – Working near overhead and underground electric lines (distances come from the 2026 Regulation)
• AS 2550.10 Cranes, hoists and winches – Safe use – Part 10: Mobile elevating work platforms (as named in the Managing the Risk of Falls at Workplaces Code of Practice 2021)
• Safe Work Australia model Code of Practice: Elevating work platforms (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.