Climbing Formwork (Jump Form and Slip Form) SWMS

For formwork contractors and builders who use self-climbing jump form or slip form on lift cores, shafts, columns and walls in tall concrete structures. It follows the job from the engineer’s design and emergency plan through assembly, working on the decks, pouring and climbing to storms and dismantling.

Falls from decks and edges and crane movement mean items 0 and 14 are ticked. Tick other items that apply, for example a cell that is a confined space (item 5), overhead power lines (item 10) or a road in use beside the building (item 13). Crane operation, concrete placement, steel fixing and scaffold erection have their own SWMS, and standard slab, wall and column formwork is covered by the Formwork SWMS.

New to SWMS? Read What Is A Safe Work Method Statement?

What Is Covered In Our Climbing Formwork (Jump Form and Slip Form) SWMS?

After the standard pre-start checks, the job steps run from “Plan the system: engineer’s design, climbing procedure and emergency plan” to “Dismantle the system and lower it”. The hazards and controls include:

• Falls from decks, edges and trapdoors
• Platform uplift in wind
• Form jamming or going out of level
• Hydraulic jack and hose failure
• Nip points on rams and rails
• Shutters dropping from crane lifts
• Climbing before concrete strength
• Impalement on reinforcing steel
• Heat and fatigue in cells
• Fire on the form
• Rescue from cells and decks
• Objects falling to the street below

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 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, and site induction
• Engineer who designs the form (the Formwork Code of Practice 2016 requires the jump form or slip form designer to be an engineer), inspects it on site and approves changes
• Workers trained in the specific form system: its erection, climbing or jumping procedure, access, emergency and rescue procedures (the code expects system-specific training, with records)
• Competent person who inspects the form, anchors, jacks and platforms and signs the climb checklists
• High risk work licence for the class of crane used (Schedule 3)
• Dogging licence, or a higher rigging class, for anyone who slings parts or directs the crane operator when the load is out of the operator’s view; rigging work on perimeter safety screens and shutters needs at least a basic rigging licence (Schedule 3 items 4 and 5; Schedule 19, dogging work)
• Licensed electrician for the power supply and controls of the climbing jacks (Electrical Safety Act 2002 s 55)
• Workers trained in the emergency procedure, fire extinguisher use, and rescue from cells and decks

Legislation and Codes of Practice Referenced

• Work Health and Safety Act 2011 (Qld)
• Work Health and Safety Regulation 2011 (Qld)
• Formwork Code of Practice 2016 (section 7: slip forms, jump forms, self-climbing and crane lifted formwork)
• Mobile Crane Code of Practice 2024 (where a mobile crane is used)
• Tower Crane Code of Practice 2017 (where a tower crane is used)
• Managing the Risk of Falls at Workplaces Code of Practice 2021
• Safe Design of Structures Code of Practice 2021
• Managing Risks of Plant in the Workplace Code of Practice 2021
• Hazardous Manual Tasks Code of Practice 2021
• Managing Risks of Hazardous Chemicals in the Workplace Code of Practice 2021
• Confined Spaces Code of Practice 2021 (where a cell meets the definition)
• Managing Noise and Preventing Hearing Loss at Work 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
• First Aid in the Workplace Code of Practice 2021
• Electrical Safety Act 2002 (Qld): electrical work by licensed electrical workers
• Electrical Safety Regulation 2026 (Qld): overhead power line exclusion zones in schedule 2
• AS 2550 Cranes, hoists and winches – safe use (named in the Formwork Code of Practice 2016 for lifting people)

What You Get

• An editable Microsoft Word document (14 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; hard hat with chin strap; high-visibility clothing; safety glasses
• Emergency arrangements for: form movement, out of level, jam or unusual noise, serious injury on a deck or in a cell and fire on the form
• 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. Please make sure you read our Disclaimer before downloading this SWMS.

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