Building Facade Cleaning SWMS

For commercial cleaning and building maintenance contractors who wash facades, cladding and glass from elevating work platforms, swing stages and rope systems. It follows the job from planning and power line checks to access, chemical use, rinsing, rescue and pack-up.

Facade cleaning on its own is not clearly high risk construction work: WHS Regulation s 289 lists maintenance and repair of a structure but not cleaning, and excludes only maintenance or repair of a minor nature. A SWMS is required by law only for high risk construction work (WHS Regulation s 299), so no item is ticked for you; otherwise this works as a written safe work procedure and task risk assessment. If your job is construction work, for example the cleaning is part of a building repair or restoration, or you decide it counts as maintenance of a structure, tick the items that apply, such as a fall of more than 2 metres or work near energised electrical services.

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 Building Facade Cleaning SWMS?

The job steps run in the order the work is done, from pre-start checks to finishing up. The hazards and controls include:

• Falls from EWPs, swing stages and ropes
• EWP tip-over and entrapment
• Swing stage failure and stuck platforms
• Contact with overhead power lines
• Chemical splashes and mixing incompatible products
• Overspray and run-off to drains and property
• Dropped tools and brushes striking people below
• Hose and jet reaction force
• Slippery platforms
• Wind, rain and lightning at height
• Heat and sun on reflective facades
• Rescue after a fall or equipment failure

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

• High risk work licence for the boom-type elevating work platform class where the boom length is 11 m or more (Schedule 3, item 21); no licence for scissor lifts, spider lifts or ladders
• Advanced scaffolding class licence, or the advanced rigging class, for anyone who installs, alters or dismantles a suspended scaffold (swing stage); installers also need competence in suspended scaffolds (Schedule 3, items 3 and 7)
• Course in the safe use of swing stage scaffolds, or an equivalent course, for everyone who works from a swing stage (as the Scaffolding code advises)
• Training and competency for the access equipment, rescue and retrieval, and for fall arrest equipment where it is used
• Training in the cleaning products used: SDS, dilution, spills, eyewash, and what must never be mixed
• Respirator fit testing and training where the SDS or the risk assessment calls for respiratory protection
• General construction induction training card (white card) where the cleaning is part of a construction project or building repair
• Site induction with the building manager, including lift, roof, alarm and emergency rules
• First aid equipment, facilities and trained first aiders (or access to them) as the work needs (WHS Regulation s 42)

Legislation and Codes of Practice Referenced

• Work Health and Safety Act 2011 (Qld)
• Work Health and Safety Regulation 2011 (Qld)
• Work Health and Safety Regulation 2011 (Qld): ss 78 to 80 (falls), s 54 (falling objects), s 225 (scaffolds), s 446 (no high pressure water on asbestos)
• Work Health and Safety Regulation 2011 (Qld): ss 341, 342, 344, 346, 351 and 354 (labelling, decanting, safety data sheets, register, managing chemical risks and reactions)
• Work Health and Safety Regulation 2011 (Qld): ss 36, 44 to 46 (hierarchy of control, personal protective equipment)
• How to Manage Work Health and Safety Risks Code of Practice 2021
• Managing the Risk of Falls at Workplaces Code of Practice 2021
• Managing Risks of Plant in the Workplace Code of Practice 2021
• Scaffolding Code of Practice 2021
• Managing Risks of Hazardous Chemicals in the Workplace Code of Practice 2021
• Labelling of Workplace Hazardous Chemicals Code of Practice 2021
• Hazardous Manual Tasks Code of Practice 2021
• Managing the Work Environment and Facilities Code of Practice 2021
• First Aid in the Workplace Code of Practice 2021
• How to Manage and Control Asbestos in the Workplace Code of Practice 2021
• Electrical Safety Act 2002 (Qld)
• Electrical Safety Regulation 2026 (Qld): overhead electric line exclusion zones and unsafe distances, ss 10 to 13 and schedule 2
• Electrical Safety Code of Practice 2020 – Working near overhead and underground electric lines (distances come from the 2026 Regulation)
• Safe Work Australia model Code of Practice: Elevating work platforms (guidance only: a model code, not approved in Queensland)

What You Get

• An editable Microsoft Word document (16 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.