Water-Fed Pole Window Cleaning SWMS

For window cleaning businesses and facility crews who clean glass from the ground with water-fed poles and pure water systems. It follows the job from the site survey and power line check to pole handling, rinsing, pedestrians, working alone and pack-up.

Water-fed pole cleaning from the ground 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 fit-out or repair, or you decide it counts as maintenance of a structure, tick the items that apply, such as work near energised electrical services.

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 Water-Fed Pole Window Cleaning SWMS?

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

• Contact with overhead power lines
• Pole strike and loss of control of a long pole
• Poles bending or falling towards lines
• Slips on wet paths and entries
• Tripping over hoses and leads
• Vehicles and pedestrians near the work
• Dripping water and splash in eyes
• Cracked glass broken by brushing
• Electric shock from pumps and leads
• Strains from long overhead reaches
• Heat and sun exposure
• Working alone

High Risk Construction Work

No high risk construction work items (WHS Regulation 2011 (Qld) s 291) are pre-ticked, because this work is not high risk construction work by itself. Tick the items that apply to your job, such as a fall risk of more than 2 metres or work where powered mobile plant is moving.

Licences, Training and Competency

• Training in the water-fed pole system: assembling, extending, controlling and collapsing the pole, and the pure water unit, pump and hoses
• Briefing on overhead power lines near the work, and on how far poles must stay from them
• Training in the cleaning products used: SDS, dilution and what must never be mixed
• No high risk work licence applies to water-fed pole cleaning from the ground; 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)
• General construction induction training card (white card) where the cleaning is construction work, for example cleaning during a fit-out or renovation
• Site or client induction, including parking, loading areas and foot traffic times
• First aid equipment, facilities and trained first aiders (or access to them) as the work needs (WHS Regulation s 42)
• A check-in system, or a second person on site, when a worker works alone

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 341, 342, 344, 346 and 351 (labelling, decanted containers, safety data sheets, register, managing chemical risks)
• Work Health and Safety Regulation 2011 (Qld): s 60 (hazardous manual tasks), ss 40, 41 and 48 (work environment, facilities, remote or isolated work), ss 36 and 44 (hierarchy of control, PPE)
• 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 line exclusion zones and unsafe distances, ss 10 to 13 and schedule 2
• Electrical Safety Code of Practice 2020 – Working near overhead and underground electric lines (distances come from the 2026 Regulation)
• Managing Risks of Plant in the Workplace Code of Practice 2021

What You Get

• An editable Microsoft Word document (13 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.