Crushing and Screening Plant Maintenance SWMS

For maintenance crews and contractors who service fixed crushing and screening plants at recycling yards, depots, civil and construction sites and other workplaces under the WHS Act. It follows the shutdown from planning and lock-out through releasing stored energy, work at height, clearing hang-ups, changing liners and screen decks and lifting heavy parts, to hot work, dust control and the test run. Mobile plants and mine sites are not covered.

Maintenance of a fixed crushing and screening plant is not high risk construction work by itself, so no reg 291 item is pre-ticked. Work on plant can be construction work where the plant is a structure (WHS Act s 4) and the work is more than testing, maintenance or repair of a minor nature (WHS Regulation s 289), and a SWMS is required by law only where the work is high risk construction work (s 299). If it is, tick the reg 291 items that apply, such as a fall of more than 2 m, work in or near a confined space, work on or near energised electrical installations or services, or work in an area that may have a contaminated or flammable atmosphere, for example dust that may contain crystalline silica. Otherwise the document works as a written safe work procedure and task risk assessment. Coal mines and mines to which the mining safety Acts apply, including quarries, are outside the WHS Act (schedule 1, part 2, division 1, section 2(1)(a) and (b)).

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

What Is Covered In Our Crushing and Screening Plant Maintenance SWMS?

After the standard pre-start checks, the job steps run from “Plan the shutdown and agree the method” to “Refit guards, test and return to service”. The hazards and controls include:

• Plant starting during maintenance
• Stored hydraulic, spring and gravity energy
• Hung-up material and engulfment
• Falls from platforms and walkways
• Heavy liners, plates and bars
• Crane and hoist lifts of heavy parts
• Dropped tools and parts
• Hydraulic oil injection
• Fire from hot work near dust and oil
• Crystalline silica dust
• Noise from tools and plant
• Heat and fatigue on long shifts

High Risk Construction Work

None of the high risk construction work items (WHS Regulation 2011 (Qld) s 291) are pre-ticked, because this job is not high risk construction work by itself. Tick any that apply on your site.

Licences, Training and Competency

• Training and verified competence in the site’s isolation (lock-out) and permit procedure for every worker who isolates or works on the plant, with a nominated isolation coordinator or competent person for the shutdown
• Trades qualifications and verified competence for the work (fitters, boilermakers, riggers) and for the make and model of crusher, screen, feeder and conveyor being maintained
• Licensed electrical worker for any disconnection or work on motors, drives, controls and switchboards (Electrical Safety Act 2002 s 55)
• High risk work licence for dogging where a load is slung or a crane operator is directed out of view, and the matching licence class for any crane or hoist that needs one (WHS Regulation Schedule 3 and Schedule 19)
• Forklift truck licence where a forklift handles parts; a boom-type elevating work platform with a boom length of 11 m or more needs its own licence class
• No Schedule 3 licence class covers fixed crushing or screening plant itself; working at heights has no licence class, so workers on platforms need working at heights training
• Confined space entry training for entrants, the standby person and the permit issuer if any chamber, hopper or chute must be entered
• Hot work training for workers and the permit issuer where cutting, welding or grinding is done
• Training in the risks of crystalline silica dust and its controls (WHS Regulation s 529CD applies to workers involved in high risk processing), and fit testing for tight-fitting respirators
• Site induction covering permit rules, isolation points, plant traffic, no-go areas and emergency arrangements
• General construction induction training card (white card) only if the job is construction work
• First aid equipment, facilities and trained first aiders or access to them for the size and location of the site (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 205 to 213 (plant: unauthorised alterations, proper use, plant not in use, guarding, heat and cold, operational controls, emergency stops, warning devices, maintenance and inspection)
• Work Health and Safety Regulation 2011 (Qld): ss 78 and 79 (falls) and s 219 (plant that lifts or suspends loads)
• Work Health and Safety Regulation 2011 (Qld): Part 4.3, ss 62 to 77, and Schedule 19 (confined spaces)
• Work Health and Safety Regulation 2011 (Qld): ss 53 and 355 (flammable stock and ignition sources), ss 56 and 57 (noise) and s 60 (hazardous manual tasks)
• Work Health and Safety Regulation 2011 (Qld): chapter 8A (crystalline silica), including ss 529A, 529B, 529CA to 529CD
• Managing respirable crystalline silica dust exposure in construction and manufacturing of construction elements Code of Practice 2022 (applies where the work is construction work or the plant makes construction elements such as aggregate)
• Managing Risks of Plant in the Workplace Code of Practice 2021
• Managing the Risk of Falls at Workplaces Code of Practice 2021
• Confined Spaces Code of Practice 2021
• 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
• Welding Processes 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 Work Health and Safety Risks Code of Practice 2021
• Mobile Crane Code of Practice 2024 (where a mobile crane lifts parts)
• Electrical Safety Act 2002 (Qld): s 55 (only licensed electrical workers do electrical work)
• Electrical Safety Regulation 2026 (Qld): ss 10 to 13 and schedule 2 (exclusion zones for overhead electric lines)
• Mining safety Acts: the WHS Act does not apply to a coal mine to which the Coal Mining Safety and Health Act 1999 applies, or to a mine to which the Mining and Quarrying Safety and Health Act 1999 applies (WHS Act schedule 1, part 2, division 1, section 2(1)(a) and (b)); a quarry is a mine unless a regulation declares otherwise (Mining and Quarrying Safety and Health Act 1999 s 9(1)(f) and (4))
• Safe Work Australia model Code of Practice: Managing the risk of fatigue at work (model code, not approved in Queensland; guidance only)

What You Get

• An editable Microsoft Word document (17 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 steel or composite toecaps; hard hat, safety glasses and high-visibility clothing
• Emergency arrangements for: person trapped or struck by moving plant or a falling part, person engulfed or collapsed in a chamber, hopper or chute and person suspended after a fall or struck from a platform
• 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.