Driven Pile Installation SWMS

Suits piling contractors and builders who drive precast concrete, steel or timber piles with hammer rigs. It follows the work from planning and services checks through delivery, pitching, driving, splicing and demobilisation.

One item is ticked for you: movement of powered mobile plant, because the piling rig, crane and trucks work in the area (WHS Regulation s 291), so a SWMS is required before the work starts (s 299). Add the energised electrical installations or services item if the piling is near overhead lines or underground cables, the precast concrete item if you drive precast concrete piles, and any other item that applies, such as a fall of more than 2 metres.

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 Driven Pile 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:

• Underground services strikes and overhead power lines
• Rig overturn on a poor working platform
• Piles falling during unloading and pitching
• Crush and pinch points on the rig and leaders
• Falling hammer and parts thrown from the pile head
• Hammer noise and hearing loss
• Hose whip and fuel fires on diesel hammers
• Pile breakage, buckling and refusal
• Hot work when splicing steel piles
• Exclusion zones and loads over people
• Exposed pile heads and trips
• Rig loading and unloading on floats

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 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
• No high risk work licence class applies to operating a hammer piling rig by itself (Schedule 3 names no piling class); a crane licence class applies if the rig is a crane or a crane lifts the piles
• Rig operator trained and verified competent on the make and model of rig, hammer and leaders in use, with the maker’s manual on the rig
• High risk work licence in the dogging class, or a higher rigging class (Schedule 3), for anyone who slings a load or directs the plant operator in moving a load when the load is out of the operator’s view (Schedule 19, dogging work)
• High risk work licence for the class of any crane used to unload or pitch piles (Schedule 3)
• Competent person (geotechnical or piling engineer) to certify the working platform
• Trained operator for the cable and pipe locator
• Spotter briefed on hand signals, the exclusion zone and overhead line clearances
• Workers trained in hot work where piles are spliced by welding
• Site induction

Legislation and Codes of Practice Referenced

• Work Health and Safety Act 2011 (Qld)
• Work Health and Safety Regulation 2011 (Qld)
• Excavation Work Code of Practice 2021
• Managing Risks of Plant in the Workplace Code of Practice 2021
• Mobile Crane Code of Practice 2024 (lifting piles)
• Managing Noise and Preventing Hearing Loss at Work Code of Practice 2021
• Hazardous Manual Tasks Code of Practice 2021
• Welding Processes Code of Practice 2021
• Managing respirable crystalline silica dust exposure in construction and manufacturing of construction elements Code of Practice 2022
• Managing Risks of Hazardous Chemicals in the Workplace Code of Practice 2021
• Safe Design of Structures 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
• First Aid in the Workplace Code of Practice 2021
• Traffic Management for Construction or Maintenance Work Code of Practice 2008 (truck movements beside a road)
• Electrical Safety Act 2002 (Qld)
• Electrical Safety Regulation 2026 (Qld): overhead line exclusion zones and unsafe distances (ss 10, 11 and 13 and sch 2) and underground electric lines (ss 14 and 15)
• Electrical Safety Code of Practice 2020 – Working near overhead and underground electric lines

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.