Commercial EV Charging Station Installation SWMS

Suits electrical contractors installing commercial EV chargers in car parks, workplaces and public sites. It covers site planning, working in an operating car park, locating services and trenching, concrete bases, cable and conduit, isolation, termination, testing and commissioning, and handover.

The high risk construction work box for energised electrical installations or services (WHS Regulation s 291(k)) is ticked because connecting to a commercial supply and digging near underground cables is work on or near energised installations or services, even though live work is excluded and needs its own SWMS. Tick any other box that applies, such as movement of powered mobile plant when an excavator or trucks work in the area, or a trench or shaft deeper than 1.5 metres. Home chargers are covered by the Home EV Charger Installation SWMS.

New to SWMS? Read What Is A Safe Work Method Statement?

What Is Covered In Our Commercial EV Charging Station Installation SWMS?

After the standard pre-start checks, the job steps run from “Plan the installation and assess the site” to “Handover, make good and pack up”. The hazards and controls include:

• Striking underground electrical and other services
• Electric shock and arc blast when isolating and terminating
• Re-energising a circuit during work
• Vehicles striking workers in an operating car park
• Trench wall collapse
• Silica dust from cutting and coring concrete
• Cutting into reinforcement and post-tension cables
• Heavy chargers and cable drums causing strains and crush injuries
• Faulty connection when first energised
• Vehicle battery thermal event during commissioning
• Pedestrians entering the work area
• Trips on cables and open trenches

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

Licences, Training and Competency

• Electrical work licence of the appropriate class for each worker who performs or supervises the electrical work, and an electrical contractor licence for the business (Electrical Safety Act 2002 (Qld) s 55)
• General construction induction training card (white card) for construction work
• Training or supplier instruction in the charger make and model, including commissioning
• Trained traffic controllers where traffic control is needed in the car park
• Operator of any trenching or coring equipment trained and assessed as competent on it
• Site induction and client car park rules

Legislation and Codes of Practice Referenced

• Work Health and Safety Act 2011 (Qld)
• Work Health and Safety Regulation 2011 (Qld)
• Electrical Safety Act 2002 (Qld)
• Electrical Safety Regulation 2026 (Qld)
• 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
• Excavation Work Code of Practice 2021
• Managing respirable crystalline silica dust exposure in construction and manufacturing of construction elements Code of Practice 2022
• Traffic Management for Construction or Maintenance Work Code of Practice 2008
• Managing Risks of Plant in the Workplace Code of Practice 2021
• Hazardous Manual Tasks Code of Practice 2021
• Managing Noise and Preventing Hearing Loss at Work 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

What You Get

• An editable Microsoft Word document (13 A4 landscape pages). Type your business, client and job details once and they fill in on every page, with a space for your logo
• 9 job steps for this work, each with its hazards, controls, initial and residual risk scores and the person responsible
• PPE listed for this job: safety boots; high-visibility clothing; insulated gloves rated for the voltage, and arc-rated clothing where the risk assessment calls for it; safety glasses
• Emergency arrangements for: electric shock, strike of an underground cable or pipe and vehicle or battery fire in the bay
• Plus the parts every Work Safety QLD SWMS shares, from the s 291 checklist to the worker sign-on sheet (see the layout in our free SWMS template)

Adjust it for your site, plant and crew, and talk it through with your workers before work starts. Please make sure you read our Disclaimer before downloading this SWMS.

Checked against the Queensland laws and codes of practice listed above. Last reviewed November 2026.