Air Conditioning Installation SWMS

Suits air conditioning and refrigeration installers, electrical contractors and builders who fit split-system and ducted air conditioners. It follows the job from the building survey and electrical isolation, through work at height, lifting the outdoor unit, drilling, brazing refrigerant pipe and charging, to commissioning and handover. Entering the ceiling space and operating an elevating work platform are covered by the separate Working in Ceiling Space SWMS and Elevated Work Platform SWMS.

Refrigerant lines and electrical connection are part of every installation, so those items are ticked; the fall item is ticked because roof and upper-wall mounting is part of this SWMS, and you can clear it for a ground-level installation with no fall of 2 metres or more. You can also tick the contaminated atmosphere item (WHS Regulation s 291(l)) when drilling or coring brick, concrete or masonry creates silica dust, because the approved Queensland silica code treats construction work with a risk of silica exposure as work in an area that may have a contaminated atmosphere.

New to SWMS? Read What is a safe work method statement?

What is covered in our air conditioning installation SWMS?

After the standard pre-start checks, the job steps run from “Survey the building, plan the job and set up the work area” to “Clean up, remove waste and hand over”. The hazards and controls include:

• Asbestos in older eaves, walls and roofs
• Hitting live cables and hidden pipes when drilling
• Electric shock while isolating and connecting
• Falls from roofs, ladders and platforms
• Falling through fragile roofing
• Dropped or swinging outdoor units during lifts
• Silica dust from drilling brick and concrete
• Fire and burns from brazing refrigerant pipe
• Pressurised nitrogen and refrigerant releases
• Flammable refrigerants igniting
• Cold burns and lack of oxygen from refrigerant
• Strains from carrying heavy units
• Heat, sun and noise on roofs and in plant areas

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
• Is carried out on or near chemical, fuel or refrigerant lines
• Is carried out on or near energised electrical installations or services

Licences, training and competency

• Electrical work licence (licensed electrical worker) that authorises the work, for all fixed wiring, isolation, connection to the supply and electrical testing; installing a fixed-wired air conditioner is electrical work
• Refrigerant handling licence from the Australian Refrigeration Council (ARC), required by the Commonwealth ozone protection and synthetic greenhouse gas legislation, for anyone who opens a refrigerant circuit, charges the system or recovers refrigerant: the full refrigeration and air conditioning licence (RAC01) covers any air conditioner of any capacity, including multi-head and ducted systems; the restricted heat pump, split systems, installation and decommissioning licence (RSS03) covers only a single-head split system under 18 kW cooling capacity, with wall hung, cassette or ducted indoor units, and its installation, commissioning and removal of refrigerant before decommissioning, and does not cover service, repair or maintenance that handles refrigerant; adding refrigerant on a long pipe run needs affiliation with the holder of a refrigerant trading authorisation, and decommissioning needs a restricted refrigerant trading authorisation as a minimum; sight each licence before work starts
• Gas work licence for the person who installs a flammable hydrocarbon refrigerant, such as propane, in a unit that uses it (Petroleum and Gas (Safety) Regulation 2018 s 135)
• High risk work licence for the class of any crane used to lift outdoor units, and in the dogging class or a higher rigging class for anyone slinging a unit or directing a plant operator when the load is out of the operator’s view (WHS Regulation Schedule 3 and Schedule 19, dogging work)
• Licensed plumber to connect the condensate drain into the building’s plumbing and drainage system (plumbing and drainage work needs a licence, Plumbing and Drainage Act 2018 s 56)
• Training in ladder use and in the fall protection equipment used, including the rescue plan, for everyone who works at height
• Asbestos awareness for workers who may drill or cut building materials: recognise suspect material, stop work and report it
• Crystalline silica training (VET accredited course or training approved by the regulator) where the silica assessment finds the drilling high risk
• General construction induction training card (white card) for construction work, and site induction
• An adequate number of workers trained in first aid (WHS Regulation s 42)

Legislation and codes of practice referenced

• Work Health and Safety Act 2011 (Qld)
• Work Health and Safety Regulation 2011 (Qld)
• Managing the Risk of Falls at Workplaces Code of Practice 2021
• Hazardous Manual Tasks Code of Practice 2021
• Managing Risks of Plant in the Workplace Code of Practice 2021
• Managing Risks of Hazardous Chemicals in the Workplace Code of Practice 2021
• Welding Processes Code of Practice 2021 (brazing is an allied hot work process: fire precautions and gas cylinders)
• Managing respirable crystalline silica dust exposure in construction and manufacturing of construction elements Code of Practice 2022
• AS/NZS 1716:2012 (Respiratory protective devices) and AS/NZS 1715:2009 (Selection, use and maintenance of respiratory protective equipment), as named in WHS Regulation s 529B
• How to Manage and Control Asbestos in the Workplace Code of Practice 2021
• Managing Noise and Preventing Hearing Loss at Work Code of Practice 2021
• Managing the Work Environment and Facilities Code of Practice 2021
• Mobile Crane Code of Practice 2024 (where a crane lifts outdoor units)
• Electrical Safety Act 2002 (Qld)
• Electrical Safety Regulation 2026 (Qld): electrical work, isolation and energised work (part 8), and overhead line exclusion zones (schedule 2)
• Electrical Safety Code of Practice 2021 – Managing electrical risks in the workplace
• Electrical Safety Code of Practice 2020 – Working near overhead and underground electric lines (distances come from the 2026 Regulation)
• Petroleum and Gas (Safety) Regulation 2018 (Qld): flammable hydrocarbon gas used as a refrigerant (ss 134 to 136)
• AS/NZS 5149.2 Refrigerating systems and heat pumps – Safety and environmental requirements – Part 2: Design, construction, testing, marking and documentation, section 4 (as named in the Petroleum and Gas (Safety) Regulation 2018, s 135)
• Building Fire Safety Regulation 2008 (Qld): air conditioning and evacuation routes (s 13)
• Plumbing and Drainage Act 2018 (Qld): plumbing and drainage work needs a licence (s 56)

What you get

• An editable Microsoft Word document (19 pages), laid out on 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 with non-slip soles; hard hat with a chin strap for work at height and below others, with a brim or neck flap for sun
• Emergency arrangements for: electric shock, gas or refrigerant release, or smell of gas and fall from a roof or ladder
• 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.

Checked against the Queensland laws and codes of practice listed above. Last reviewed November 2026.