About Work Safety QLD
Safety paperwork, written by someone who's actually been on site.
Work Safety QLD is a privately owned Brisbane business. Since 2021 we've helped 3,097 customers get the WHS documents they need, without paying consultant rates or waiting weeks.
3,097
customers since 2021
1,175
SWMS and templates, plus 169 bundles
4,200+
free template downloads
16 yrs
on Queensland sites
Our story
Built from 16 years of writing SWMS on real jobs
Most small businesses don't need a consultant. They need a solid, practical document they can make their own.
I'm Ryan Graham. I've spent 16 years in health and safety on Queensland sites, writing thousands of SWMS, site safety management plans and safety management systems for businesses and trades of every size, and doing enough of the physical work myself to know when a document doesn't match the job.
I started Work Safety QLD in 2021 to make that knowledge easy to reach: free guides and templates first, then a store of practical, plain-English documents any Queensland business can download, brand and use the same day. It's what I wish my Dad's business could have bought when I was starting out.
Ryan
How we got here
Where it started
Weekends in Dad's workshop
Between the ages of about 12 and 14, I spent my weekends in my Dad's tiny boilermaking shed in Yatala, helping out with small jobs. I learned a lot about the trade. I also learned I was too much of a computer nerd to become a boilermaker myself.
My first safety job
Tens of thousands of dollars for copy and paste
At 19 I was studying IT at TAFE when Dad asked if I'd look after health and safety for his business, which was growing fast. I said yes, got accredited and started my Cert IV in Work Health and Safety.
The business wanted ISO certification for safety, so they brought in a consultant and I worked alongside him. Most of what they were paying for turned out to be their details pasted over pre-written templates, full of spelling mistakes, out-of-date legislation and formatting nobody could read. I remember thinking there had to be a better way.
On the tools
The SWMS written for a nail salon
Years later I worked for another engineering business as a trades assistant: driving the truck and running the hiab, welding, grinding, gas cutting and spray painting. The crew told me the safety documents they had to sign felt like terms and conditions, not a description of the work they actually did.
A few of them showed me that some of those documents had been written for a nail salon. Someone had copied them in without reading them.
In the site hut
One week to keep us on the job
On one big project, with more than 30 of our people on site, we were about to be kicked off over our paperwork. My boss asked me to help.
I spent a week in the client's site hut, talked to every worker about how they actually did the job, and rewrote every one of our SWMS from scratch, checking each against the legislation. The client signed off and we finished the project. After that, writing safety documents became my full-time job, on everything from one-off jobs to government contracts and tier 1 builder sites.
First client
A whole safety system for $500
A forklift licence trainer I'd got to know introduced me to a small recycling business. They needed a safety system and couldn't afford tens of thousands for one, so I wrote it for them for $500.
Word got around. In 2016 I started my own web design and digital marketing business, and clients kept asking if I could help with their SWMS and policies too. I've since helped hundreds of businesses across all sorts of industries.
2021
Work Safety QLD opens
For most small businesses, safety felt expensive, intimidating and gatekept. I wanted somewhere good documents were affordable, made sense to the people using them, and looked professional with your own branding on them.
We've given away more than 4,200 free templates since, and I've had hundreds of calls and emails from business owners saying it made things easier.
2025 to today
Rebuilt from the ground up
Over the past year I've rebuilt the whole library. Every SWMS and template has been rewritten, checked against current Queensland law and redesigned, so it's clear for the crew on site and looks sharp when you send it to a client.
There are now 1,175 to choose from, plus 169 bundles, and customers who bought the old versions get the new ones free.
What we believe
How we write every document
Practical first
Written from site experience, so the steps match how the work is actually done.
Plain English
No jargon your crew can't follow. A SWMS only works if people read it.
Queensland-specific
Written around the Work Health and Safety Act 2011 and Regulation 2011 (Qld).
Fair prices
Pay once per document. No subscriptions, and 15 templates are free.
The team
The people behind the documents
We're a team of two. When you email us, one of us reads it and writes back.
Ryan Graham
Founder · Health and safety professional
Ryan has spent 16 years in health and safety on Queensland sites. Before any of that, he was the kid helping out in his Dad's boilermaking shed on weekends. He's done the physical work himself, from driving trucks and running a hiab to welding, grinding and gas cutting, so he knows what a job involves before he writes about it.
He has written and reworked SWMS for one-off jobs, government contracts and tier 1 builder sites. He has worked alongside client safety teams and government inspectors, investigated incidents, run safety for large companies and helped hundreds of small businesses get their paperwork sorted. Every template in the store is built to his standard and checked against Queensland law before it goes on sale.
Outside work he's a computer nerd who has been building websites since his twenties. He also runs Explore SEQ, a guide to the rainforests, lakes, beaches and cafes of South East Queensland, which started life years ago as Stuff To Do in Brisbane.
Joanne Boyd
Writer and editor · SEO
Joanne is a Gold Coast writer and editor with 15 years of professional copywriting behind her. She studied at Griffith University and runs her own copywriting and digital marketing business.
She and Ryan go back a long way. Years before Work Safety QLD, she helped design the logo for his tech help blog and walked the neighbourhood with him handing out brochures for it. Since then she's had a hand in almost everything he's built, from writing for Stuff To Do in Brisbane to the SEO work she still does with him at RJG Mediaworks today.
At Work Safety QLD she edits the guides and templates so they read clearly and get to the point, and does the keyword research that helps people find them. If something on this site is easy to read, Joanne probably had a hand in it.
Free resources
Free help for every Queensland business
Every guide on this site is free, and 15 templates cost nothing. If you just need the basics, start there, and buy only what your job needs.
Independent, not government. Work Safety QLD is a private business and isn't affiliated with Workplace Health and Safety Queensland. For official guidance, visit worksafe.qld.gov.au.
Plain-English WHS guides and toolbox talk ideas.
Including a free SWMS template for Queensland.
SWMS, policies, forms and registers in Word and Excel, ready to brand.
Templates sorted by trade, so you can find what your job needs.
Got a question about a template?
Email us and you'll hear back from a real person who knows the job.