Tilt-Up Panel Erection SWMS

Suits builders and panel erectors who lift tilt-up concrete wall panels into place with a mobile crane and brace them to footings. It covers the lift plan and engineer certification, checking inserts, braces and anchors, crane set-up and exclusion zones, rigging and lifting, bracing at height and brace removal. Precast panels delivered to site and crane operation in general are covered by separate SWMS.

Work involving tilt-up concrete is high risk construction work under WHS Regulation s 291(m), so that item is ticked, along with powered mobile plant (item o) and a fall of more than 2 metres (item a) because bracing is fixed and removed at height. Tick the other items the job involves, such as energised electrical installations or overhead lines, a road in use, or a trench or shaft deeper than 1.5 metres.

Similar job: if it is closer to your work, see the Precast Concrete Panel Erection SWMS.

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

What Is Covered In Our Tilt-Up Panel Erection SWMS?

After the standard pre-start checks, the job steps run from “Plan the erection: drawings, certification and lift plan” to “Shut down, clean up and pack up”. The hazards and controls include:

• Panel falling or toppling during the lift
• Lifting insert, clutch or sling failure
• Crane overturning on slopes or soft ground
• Workers inside the fall zone of a panel
• Brace failure or damage by plant
• Panels striking braces and other panels
• Falls from heights when fixing and removing braces
• Contact with overhead power lines
• Wind loading on unbraced panels
• Premature removal of temporary braces
• Counterweight or boom striking panels
• Striking buried services during set-up

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
• Involves tilt-up or precast concrete
• Is carried out in an area at a workplace in which there is any movement of powered mobile plant

Licences, Training and Competency

• General construction induction training card (white card) for construction work, and site induction
• Crane operator: high risk work licence for the class of crane used, which for mobile cranes is non-slewing mobile crane (more than 3 t) or the slewing mobile crane class for the capacity (up to 20 t, 60 t, 100 t or over 100 t) (Schedule 3 items 14 to 18)
• Panel erection crew: high risk work licence in the intermediate rigging class for tilt slabs (Schedule 3 item 6(d)); the approved code says crew hold intermediate or advanced rigging unless they are supervised trainees
• Anyone who slings loads or directs the crane operator out of view holds a dogging licence or a higher rigging class (Schedule 19, dogging work)
• Boom-type elevating work platform of 11 m boom length or more: high risk work licence (Schedule 3 item 21)
• Engineer (professional engineer with suitable experience) to certify the panel, bracing and deadman design, and a competent person to verify the work on site
• Spotter or safety observer briefed on hand signals, the exclusion zone and the power line distances
• First aid equipment, facilities and trained first aiders (or access to them) as the work needs (WHS Regulation s 42)

Legislation and Codes of Practice Referenced

• Work Health and Safety Act 2011 (Qld)
• Work Health and Safety Regulation 2011 (Qld)
• Tilt-up and Pre-cast Construction Industry Code of Practice 2003
• Mobile Crane Code of Practice 2024 (documented lifting procedures, section 7.5; multiple crane lifts, section 11.3)
• Managing the Risk of Falls at Workplaces Code of Practice 2021
• Managing Risks of Plant 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
• Hazardous Manual Tasks Code of Practice 2021
• Managing the Work Environment and Facilities Code of Practice 2021
• How to Manage Work Health and Safety Risks Code of Practice 2021
• Electrical Safety Act 2002 (Qld)
• Electrical Safety Regulation 2026 (Qld): overhead and underground electric lines, exclusion zones in schedule 2
• Electrical Safety Code of Practice 2020 – Working near overhead and underground electric lines

What You Get

• An editable Microsoft Word document (15 A4 landscape pages). Type your business, client and job details once and they fill in on every page, with a space for your logo
• 11 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 long-sleeve shirt and trousers; hard hat; safety glasses
• Emergency arrangements for: power line contact, panel, crane or load failing and fall from a platform or EWP
• 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.