Passenger Lift Installation SWMS

Suits lift contractors and installers who fit passenger lifts into new and existing lift shafts. It follows the work from the manufacturer’s documents and shaft checks, through shaft barriers, electrical isolation, hoisting, rails, machine, car, ropes and doors, to electrical connection, commissioning and registration. Lift maintenance and building the working platform in the shaft are covered by separate SWMS.

Lift installation 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 it does in a lift well (WHS Regulation sections 291 and 299); that item is ticked, and you can tick others where the job meets them, such as powered mobile plant when a crane or hoist is used, or a contaminated atmosphere when drilling creates silica dust.

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 Passenger Lift Installation SWMS?

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

• Falls down the lift well and through landing openings
• Objects falling onto people in the pit
• Crushing between the car, counterweight and shaft
• Heavy components dropping during hoisting
• Overloaded beams, chain blocks and lifting points
• Electric shock and unexpected movement of the lift
• Silica dust and noise from drilling anchors
• Wire rope handling injuries
• Safety gear and governor set wrongly
• Use of the lift before it is registered
• Heavy doors and frames falling
• Working alone or without a rescue plan

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 shaft access rules, exclusion zones and the rescue plan
• Lift installers trained and assessed as competent on the lift model and the manufacturer’s installation method (Schedule 3 has no high risk work licence class for installing a lift)
• Electrical work licence for anyone who performs or supervises electrical work, and an electrical contractor licence for the business (Electrical Safety Act 2002 ss 55 and 56)
• High risk work licence in the dogging class, or a higher rigging class (Schedule 3 items 4 to 7), for anyone who slings a load or directs a plant operator in moving a load that is out of the operator’s view (Schedule 19, dogging work); a vehicle loading crane licence (item 13) covers slinging for its own crane; for a chain block lift of a machine on its maker’s lugs, a worker without that licence may sling only where a licensed dogger, rigger or qualified engineer has already fixed the load’s weight, the slings and slinging method, the check of the gear and the lifting points (marked on the load or built into it, such as maker’s lugs), the load stays in the operator’s view throughout, and a signed-off standard lifting procedure and training in it are in place (WorkSafe Queensland, Dogger – DG)
• High risk work licence for the class of any crane or materials hoist used to lift components, such as a vehicle loading crane of 10 metre tonnes or more, a mobile crane or a materials hoist (Schedule 3 items 8 to 20)
• Competent person to inspect the shaft and pit before installation and to commission and test the lift
• Competent person, qualified in a relevant engineering discipline or with knowledge of the relevant technical standards, to inspect the lift for item registration (WHS Regulation s 267)
• Training in the fall arrest equipment (WHS Regulation s 39) and the rescue plan (s 80) where a harness system is used
• First aid equipment and facilities, and trained first aiders as the work and site need (WHS Regulation s 42)

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): s 236 (lifts), s 204 (installation and commissioning), ss 243 to 247 and 265 to 273 and schedule 5 (registration of plant designs and items)
• Work Health and Safety Regulation 2011 (Qld): ss 78 to 80 and 306D to 306J (falls)
• Managing Risks of Plant in the Workplace Code of Practice 2021
• Managing the Risk of Falls at Workplaces Code of Practice 2021
• Mobile Crane Code of Practice 2024 (cranes and vehicle loading cranes lifting components)
• Hazardous Manual Tasks Code of Practice 2021
• Managing Risks of Hazardous Chemicals in the Workplace 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 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
• Electrical Safety Act 2002 (Qld): ss 18, 55 and 56 (electrical work and licences)
• Electrical Safety Regulation 2026 (Qld): ss 140, 192 and 195 to 200 (construction wiring, energised work and lock-off) and the exclusion zones in schedule 2
• Electrical Safety Code of Practice 2021 – Managing electrical risks in the workplace
• 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 (19 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.