Turf Cutter SWMS

For turf growers, landscapers and contractors who cut turf with sod cutters and turf cutters. It covers service and ground checks, loading the machine, pre-start and hydraulic hose checks, cutting, clearing blockages and blade changes, handling cut rolls, and heat, noise and vibration. It leaves turf laying to a separate SWMS.

Turf cutting is construction work only when it is connected with building work or an excavation (WHS Regulation s 289). A SWMS is required by law (s 299) only for high risk construction work (s 291), and no item is inherent to turf cutting, so none is pre-ticked. If the job is construction work, tick the items that apply: powered mobile plant movement in the work area, energised electrical services, or a road in use. Otherwise this works as a written safe work procedure and task risk assessment.

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 Turf Cutter 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 the moving blade
• Kickback when the blade strikes rocks or roots
• Stones and soil thrown from the cutter
• Striking underground services and irrigation lines
• Contact with overhead power lines
• Rollover on slopes and soft ground
• Hydraulic hose leaks and oil injection
• Fire when refuelling
• Clearing blockages and changing blades
• Strains from heavy turf rolls
• Noise, vibration and heat
• Cutter rolling off ramps when loading

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

• General construction induction training card (white card) where the turf cutting is construction work, such as site preparation connected with building work
• Operator trained and assessed as competent on the turf cutter used, including its start-up, shut-down and emergency stop procedures (no high risk work licence class in Schedule 3 applies to turf cutters)
• Competent person for hydraulic hose replacement, blade changes and repairs
• Spotter briefed on the exclusion zone, hand signals and the cutter’s throw area
• Training in the label and SDS for fuel, hydraulic oil and any chemicals used
• First aider or access to one, including for cuts, heat illness and hydraulic oil injection
• Site induction and the client’s access and working-hours rules

Legislation and Codes of Practice Referenced

• Work Health and Safety Act 2011 (Qld)
• Work Health and Safety Regulation 2011 (Qld)
• 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
• Managing Risks of Hazardous Chemicals in the Workplace Code of Practice 2021
• Managing the Work Environment and Facilities Code of Practice 2021 (outdoor work, UV and heat)
• First Aid in the Workplace Code of Practice 2021
• How to Manage Work Health and Safety Risks Code of Practice 2021
• Rural Plant Code of Practice 2024 (guarding, hydraulics and mobile plant principles)
• Excavation Work Code of Practice 2021 (underground services)
• Electrical Safety Act 2002 (Qld)
• Electrical Safety Regulation 2026 (Qld): overhead and underground electric lines (ss 10 to 15 and schedule 2) and safety switches (s 139)
• Electrical Safety Code of Practice 2020 – Working near overhead and underground electric lines (distances come from the 2026 Regulation)

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.