Post-Tensioning Stressing SWMS

Suits post-tensioning crews and concrete contractors who stress tendons in suspended slabs, ground slabs and beams. It follows the stressing from the engineer’s documents and concrete strength, exclusion zones and edge protection, through jack set-up, hydraulic connection and the stress itself, to problems, tail cutting and clean-up, and it gives no forces, pressures or exclusion zone distances, which come from the post-tensioning designer, the system supplier’s stressing procedure and the project engineer. Placing and fixing tendons before the pour is covered by a separate SWMS.

Stressing is not high risk construction work by itself, but a SWMS is legally required when the work involves a risk of a fall of more than 2 metres, as at the edge of a suspended slab (WHS Regulation sections 291 and 299); that item is ticked for suspended slab work, so untick it for slab-on-ground work where nobody could fall more than 2 metres, and tick others where the job meets them, such as powered mobile plant when a crane lifts the equipment.

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 Post-Tensioning Stressing SWMS?

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

• Tendon whip and strand failure under load
• Jack, wedge or anchorage failure
• People behind or in line with the jack
• High-pressure hydraulic oil injection
• Hose burst or whip
• Stressing before the concrete has reached strength
• Falls from the slab edge
• Tools and wedges falling onto people below
• Manual handling of jacks and pumps
• Electric shock from the power pack
• Strand cuts and sparks when cutting tails
• Noise from cutting tendon tails
• Edge protection left open after stressing

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

Licences, Training and Competency

• General construction induction training card (white card) for construction work
• Site induction, including the exclusion zones, signals and emergency plan
• Stressing crew trained and assessed by the post-tensioning system supplier on the system, jack and pump used, with a competent person in charge of each gang
• Post-tensioning designer or project engineer to issue the stressing drawings, sequence, forces and extensions, and to confirm the concrete strength in writing before stressing
• High risk work licence in the dogging class, or a higher rigging class (Schedule 3 items 4 to 7), for anyone who slings a jack or pump, or directs a plant operator in moving a load that is out of the operator’s view (Schedule 19, dogging work); the holder of a vehicle loading crane licence of 10 metre tonnes or more (item 13) may sling for their own crane
• High risk work licence for the class of any crane used to lift equipment to the slab, or of any materials hoist or personnel and materials hoist (Schedule 3 items 8 to 20)
• Training in the fall prevention or fall arrest equipment used (WHS Regulation s 39) and, where a harness system is used, in the rescue plan (s 80)
• Competent person to inspect and maintain the jacks, pumps, gauges and hoses to the maker’s recommendations (WHS Regulation s 213)
• First aid equipment and facilities, and trained first aiders (or access to them) as the work, hazards and site need, with no fixed number in the Regulation (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 78 to 80 and 306A to 306J (falls)
• Work Health and Safety Regulation 2011 (Qld): ss 203, 206 and 213 (plant) and ss 315B to 315M (falling objects)
• Managing Risks of Plant in the Workplace Code of Practice 2021
• Formwork Code of Practice 2016
• Managing the Risk of Falls at Workplaces Code of Practice 2021
• Demolition Work Code of Practice 2021 (section 5.1, stored energy in tensioned tendons)
• Hazardous Manual Tasks Code of Practice 2021
• 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
• 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 (where a crane lifts jacks and pumps)
• Electrical Safety Act 2002 (Qld)
• Electrical Safety Regulation 2026 (Qld): s 140 (electrical equipment for construction work)

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.