Window Cleaning Using Ladders SWMS

Suits window cleaning businesses and facility crews who clean windows from single, extension or step ladders. It covers choosing the access method, power lines, protecting people below, ladder inspection and set-up, working from the ladder, glass breakage, cleaning products and pack-up.

Window cleaning on its own is not clearly high risk construction work: WHS Regulation s 289 lists maintenance and repair of a structure but not cleaning, and excludes only maintenance or repair of a minor nature. A SWMS is required by law only for high risk construction work (WHS Regulation s 299), so no item is ticked for you; otherwise this works as a written safe work procedure and task risk assessment. If your job is construction work, for example the cleaning is part of a renovation or repair, or you decide it counts as maintenance of a structure, tick the items that apply, such as a fall of more than 2 metres or work near energised electrical services.

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

What Is Covered In Our Window Cleaning Using Ladders SWMS?

After the standard pre-start checks, the job steps run from “Plan the job and choose the safest way to reach each window” to “Take down, clean up and pack up”. The hazards and controls include:

• Falls from ladders
• Ladders slipping on wet or soft ground
• Ladders resting on glass or frames
• Overreaching and carrying buckets on ladders
• Contact with overhead power lines
• Broken glass and cuts
• People, doors and vehicles hitting the ladder
• Chemical splashes from stain removers
• Slippery run-off and wet entrances
• Strains from carrying ladders
• Heat and sun exposure
• Working alone

High Risk Construction Work

None of the high risk construction work items (WHS Regulation 2011 (Qld) s 291) are pre-ticked, because this job is not high risk construction work by itself. Tick any that apply on your site.

Licences, Training and Competency

• Training in how to inspect, set up and use portable ladders safely, and in the controls in this SWMS (the approved falls code recommends it for anyone who uses a ladder)
• General construction induction training card (white card) where the work is construction work, for example cleaning done during a fit-out or renovation
• No high risk work licence is needed for ladders or window cleaning; a licence is needed only for a boom-type elevating work platform with a boom length of 11 m or more (Schedule 3, item 21)
• Training in the cleaning products used, and in the first aid response for chemical splashes
• First aid equipment, facilities and trained first aiders (or access to them) as the work needs (WHS Regulation s 42)
• A second person on site, or an agreed check-in system, when a worker is working alone

Legislation and Codes of Practice Referenced

• Work Health and Safety Act 2011 (Qld)
• Work Health and Safety Regulation 2011 (Qld)
• Managing the Risk of Falls at Workplaces Code of Practice 2021
• How to Manage Work Health and Safety Risks Code of Practice 2021
• Hazardous Manual Tasks Code of Practice 2021
• Managing Risks of Hazardous Chemicals in the Workplace Code of Practice 2021
• Labelling of Workplace Hazardous Chemicals Code of Practice 2021
• Managing the Work Environment and Facilities Code of Practice 2021
• First Aid in the Workplace Code of Practice 2021
• Electrical Safety Act 2002 (Qld)
• Electrical Safety Regulation 2026 (Qld): overhead electric lines, ss 10 to 13 and schedule 2
• Electrical Safety Code of Practice 2021: Managing electrical risks in the workplace

What You Get

• An editable Microsoft Word document (14 A4 landscape pages). Type your business, client and job details once and they fill in on every page, with a space for your logo
• 10 job steps for this work, each with its hazards, controls, initial and residual risk scores and the person responsible
• PPE listed for this job: non-slip safety boots; cut-resistant gloves for handling broken glass, and waterproof gloves for cleaning products; safety glasses; hat, sunscreen, UV-rated sunglasses and long sleeves for the sun
• Emergency arrangements for: fall from a ladder, contact with a power line and broken glass or deep cut
• 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.