Chain Trencher SWMS

Suits irrigation, cabling, drainage, landscaping and civil contractors who cut narrow trenches with a walk-behind or ride-on chain trencher. It covers locating services, set-up, loading and transport, pre-start checks, refuelling, cutting, travel on slopes, trench support, dust and noise, and pack-up.

Tick the contaminated atmosphere item (WHS Regulation s 291(l)) on the form as well when the cutting creates silica dust, because the approved Queensland silica code treats work with a risk of silica exposure as high risk construction work.

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

What is covered in our chain trencher SWMS?

After the standard pre-start checks, the job steps run from “Locate underground services and plan the trench route” to “Shut down, secure the machine and pack up”. The hazards and controls include:

• Striking underground electric cables
• Striking gas, fuel and other pressurised lines
• Contact with overhead power lines
• Contact with the rotating chain and teeth
• Flying rock, soil and broken chain parts
• Chain snagging and machine kickback
• Trencher rolling off ramps or tipping on slopes
• Trench wall collapse and falls into trenches
• Fire during refuelling
• Respirable crystalline silica dust
• Noise and hand-arm vibration
• Heat illness in hot weather
• Public and workers entering the work area

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:

• Is carried out on or near energised electrical installations or services
• Is carried out in an area at a workplace in which there is any movement of powered mobile plant

Licences, training and competency

• General construction induction training card (white card) for construction work
• Site induction
• Verification of competency for the trencher model and attachments used (no high risk work licence class applies to chain trenchers)
• Competent person to select and inspect trench support when anyone must enter a trench 1.5 m or deeper
• Crystalline silica training (VET accredited course or training approved by the regulator) for workers where cutting rock, concrete or similar is assessed as high risk silica processing

Legislation and codes of practice referenced

• Work Health and Safety Act 2011 (Qld)
• Work Health and Safety Regulation 2011 (Qld) (including chapter 8A, crystalline silica)
• Excavation Work Code of Practice 2021
• Managing Risks of Plant in the Workplace Code of Practice 2021
• Managing respirable crystalline silica dust exposure in construction and manufacturing of construction elements Code of Practice 2022
• 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
• How to Manage Work Health and Safety Risks Code of Practice 2021
• Electrical Safety Act 2002 (Qld)
• Electrical Safety Regulation 2026 (Qld): overhead and underground electric lines, exclusion zones in schedule 2
• Electrical Safety Code of Practice 2020 – Working near overhead and underground electric lines

What you get

• An editable Microsoft Word document (14 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
• 10 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; high-visibility long-sleeved shirt and long trousers; safety glasses with side shields (face shield when cutting rock or concrete); hearing protection rated for the machine noise level
• Emergency arrangements for: contact with a power line or buried cable, strike on a gas, fuel or other pressurised line and trench collapse
• 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.