Fence Line Clearing SWMS

For fencing contractors, farmers, graziers and land managers who clear scrub and trees along a fence line before building or replacing a fence. It follows the work from planning and walking the line through zones and signals, hand-tool, chainsaw and dozer clearing, fire control and the heat and animal hazards to clean-up. Chainsaw operation and broad land clearing have their own SWMS.

Clearing a fence line is construction work when it is site preparation for building, altering or replacing a fence, because a fence is a structure (WHS Regulation s 289(1) and (2)(g)); a SWMS is then legally required if the work is high risk construction work (s 299). Clearing vegetation with no fence work connected to it is not construction work, and minor maintenance or repair of an existing fence is excluded (s 289(3)(d)); then this works as a written safe work procedure or task risk assessment. If you are unsure, treat it as construction work. No item is pre-ticked because none applies to every job. Tick movement of powered mobile plant (o) when a dozer, tractor or utility works in the area, energised electrical installations or services (k) if overhead lines or buried cables are near the line, and any other item that applies.

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

What Is Covered In Our Fence Line Clearing SWMS?

After the standard pre-start checks, the job steps run from “Plan the fence line and walk the site” to “Make the line safe and clean up”. The hazards and controls include:

• Objects thrown from brushcutters and hand tools
• Falling trees, limbs and hung-up trees
• Chainsaw kickback and contact
• Dozer and tractor roll-over on slopes and soft ground
• Contact with overhead power lines
• Striking buried services when pulling stumps
• Machines striking workers on foot
• Grass fires from sparks and hot exhausts
• Snake bites, stings and tick bites
• Heat illness and fatigue in open country
• Strains from logs, wire and debris
• Remote work with no easy way to call for help

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

• Chainsaw operators trained and verified competent for the cutting being done; Schedule 3 of the WHS Regulation has no high risk work licence class for chainsaws, bulldozers or tractors
• Dozer, tractor and utility operators trained and verified competent on the machine and its attachments, including winching and dragging
• General construction induction training card (white card) where clearing the line is site preparation for building, altering or replacing a fence (WHS Regulation ss 289(2)(g) and 317)
• Competent person (an experienced faller) to decide which trees the crew can cut; large, leaning, dead or hung-up trees go to a qualified arborist
• Spotters briefed on the hand signals or radio, the exclusion zones and the machine’s blind spots
• First aid training for workers, with first aid equipment suited to snake bite and remote work (WHS Regulation s 42)
• Property induction covering gates, livestock, fire danger, services, hazards and the landowner’s rules

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 289, 291 and 299 (construction work includes site preparation; high risk construction work; the SWMS)
• Work Health and Safety Regulation 2011 (Qld): ss 214 and 215 (powered mobile plant)
• Work Health and Safety Regulation 2011 (Qld): s 48 (remote or isolated work)
• Work Health and Safety Regulation 2011 (Qld): s 304 (underground essential services information for excavation work)
• Rural Plant Code of Practice 2024
• Managing Risks of Plant in the Workplace Code of Practice 2021
• Forest Harvesting Code of Practice 2007 (written for forest harvesting; felling zones and chainsaw practice used here as good practice)
• Hazardous Manual Tasks Code of Practice 2021
• Managing Noise and Preventing Hearing Loss at Work Code of Practice 2021
• Managing the Work Environment and Facilities Code of Practice 2021 (heat)
• Managing Risks of Hazardous Chemicals in the Workplace Code of Practice 2021
• First Aid in the Workplace Code of Practice 2021
• Excavation Work Code of Practice 2021 (plant near excavations and underground services)
• Traffic Management for Construction or Maintenance Work Code of Practice 2008 (where the fence line is beside a road)
• How to Manage Work Health and Safety Risks Code of Practice 2021
• Electrical Safety Act 2002 (Qld)
• Electrical Safety Regulation 2026 (Qld): overhead power line exclusion zones in sections 10 to 13 and schedule 2
• Electrical Safety Code of Practice 2020 – Working near overhead and underground electric lines (section 6, clearing vegetation near lines)
• Safe Work Australia model Code of Practice: Managing the risks of biological hazards at work (model code, not approved in Queensland; guidance only)
• 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 (13 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: chainsaw-protective trousers or chaps, and a helmet with face visor and earmuffs, for anyone using a chainsaw; hard hat with chin strap for crew working near falling timber or machines
• Emergency arrangements for: snake bite, tree, limb or machine in contact with a power line and fire in grass or scrub
• 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.