Bricklaying SWMS

For bricklayers and masonry contractors laying brick and block walls. It follows the job in order, from deliveries, mortar mixing and wet cutting to working from scaffold, bracing new walls, cleaning down brickwork and packing up, with silica dust, falls and overhead power lines covered.

A SWMS is legally required under the WHS Regulation (s 299) only when the work is high risk construction work, such as work with a fall risk of more than 2 metres or cutting and mixing that create silica dust (tick the contaminated atmosphere item, s 291(l)); otherwise this document works as a written safe work procedure or task risk assessment.

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

What is covered in our bricklaying SWMS?

After the standard pre-start checks, the job steps run from “Set up work area, access and housekeeping” to “Complete work, clean up and pack up”. The hazards and controls include:

• Falls from scaffolds and working platforms
• Silica dust from cutting and mixing
• Bricks, blocks and tools falling onto people below
• Delivery trucks, forklifts and truck cranes
• Contact with overhead power lines
• Collapse of new or free-standing walls
• Saw blade cuts and noise
• Cement and acid burns
• Back and shoulder strains from lifting bricks and blocks
• Heat illness and sunburn
• Exposed reinforcement bar ends
• Electric shock from mixers and saws

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

Licences, training and competency

• General construction induction training card (white card) for construction work
• Bricklaying trade qualification or verified competency for the tasks and plant used
• High risk work licence for the scaffolding class that matches the scaffold (basic, intermediate or advanced) for anyone erecting, altering or dismantling a scaffold from which a person or object could fall more than 4 m
• High risk work licence for the class of any forklift truck, vehicle loading crane (10 metre tonnes or more), hoist or dogging work used to deliver or lift materials
• Crystalline silica training (a VET accredited course or training approved by the regulator) for workers involved in silica processing that the written assessment finds high risk
• Respirator fit test and training for workers who wear P2 respirators
• Site induction

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
• Scaffolding Code of Practice 2021
• Managing Risks of Plant in the Workplace Code of Practice 2021
• Mobile Crane Code of Practice 2024 (vehicle loading cranes on delivery trucks)
• Hazardous Manual Tasks Code of Practice 2021
• Managing Noise and Preventing Hearing Loss at Work 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
• Managing the Work Environment and Facilities Code of Practice 2021
• First Aid in the Workplace Code of Practice 2021
• Traffic Management for Construction or Maintenance Work Code of Practice 2008 (work on or beside a road)
• Electrical Safety Act 2002 (Qld)
• Electrical Safety Regulation 2026 (Qld): overhead power line exclusion zones
• 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 (16 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; long-sleeved high-visibility shirt and long pants; safety glasses; goggles or a face shield for acid cleaning; cut-resistant gloves; chemical-resistant gloves for cement and acid
• Emergency arrangements for: fall from a scaffold or platform, wall movement or collapse and acid or cement on skin or in eyes
• 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 October 2026.