Forestry Mulcher SWMS

For land clearing contractors, civil and earthworks crews, rural contractors and vegetation management teams who run forestry mulchers on excavators and tracked carriers. It follows the job from the site walk and planning through services and power lines, loading the carrier, the machine and mulcher head checks, travel, mulching, fire control and tooth changes to shut-down. Chainsaw work and general vegetation clearing are not covered and need their own SWMS.

Using a forestry mulcher on construction work is high risk construction work because powered mobile plant moves in the work area (WHS Regulation ss 289 and 291(o)), so that item is ticked and a SWMS is required before it starts (s 299); clearing is construction work when it is site preparation connected with building or similar work (s 289(2)(g)), and away from construction work this document works as a written safe work procedure or task risk assessment. You can also tick energised electrical installations or services if overhead lines are near the work, a road in use, or the contaminated atmosphere item if the work creates silica dust, as the Queensland silica code advises.

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 Forestry Mulcher SWMS?

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

• Thrown wood, rock and metal striking people and vehicles
• Contact with the rotating mulcher head and teeth
• Fire from sparks, hot exhaust and dry vegetation
• Rollover on slopes, soft ground and creek banks
• Hidden obstacles, wire, tanks and buried services
• Contact with overhead power lines
• Falling, dead and hung-up trees
• Mulcher head dropping from a quick hitch
• Tooth changes, blockages and hydraulic hose bursts
• Silica and organic dust, noise and vibration
• Heat illness, snakes and insects in remote locations
• Loading and unloading the carrier from a float
• Fatigue and working alone out of coverage

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 in an area at a workplace in which there is any movement of powered mobile plant

Licences, Training and Competency

• Operator trained and assessed as competent on the carrier, the mulcher head and its attachments (Schedule 3 of the WHS Regulation has no high risk work licence class for forestry mulchers, excavators or tracked carriers)
• General construction induction training card (white card) when the clearing is construction work, such as site preparation for building (WHS Regulation s 289(2)(g)), and the site induction
• Operator trained on the make and model of quick hitch on the carrier, including how its locking pin or automatic back-up lock works
• Spotter or safety observer trained for the role: hand signals, machine blind spots, the exclusion zone, tree fall zones and the power line distances
• Competent person (for example an experienced feller or arborist) to assess large, dead, leaning or hung-up trees and trees near power lines; chainsaw work is not covered by this SWMS
• Competent person to maintain the carrier and the mulcher head, change teeth and repair hydraulics to the maker’s recommendations (WHS Regulation s 213)
• Trained operator of the cable and pipe locator where underground services are possible
• Driver licensed for the class of the truck or float that carries the machine, and a competent person to load and unload it
• Asbestos awareness so workers recognise dumped sheeting and other suspect waste, stop work and report it, and a competent person to identify it (WHS Regulation s 422)
• Crystalline silica training (VET accredited course or training approved by the regulator) where the dust assessment finds the work high risk (WHS Regulation s 529CD)
• First aid equipment, facilities and trained first aiders (or access to them) as the work needs (WHS Regulation s 42), including for snake bite and heat illness

Legislation and Codes of Practice Referenced

• Work Health and Safety Act 2011 (Qld)
• Work Health and Safety Regulation 2011 (Qld)
• Managing Risks of Plant in the Workplace Code of Practice 2021
• Rural Plant Code of Practice 2024 (guarding, material thrown from plant, falling object protection for tree clearing, transporting plant)
• Forest Harvesting Code of Practice 2007 (machine safety features, felling zone, working alone, fatigue and heat; written for forest harvesting and used here as good practice)
• Mobile Crane Code of Practice 2024 (quick hitches on earthmoving plant; written for plant used as a crane and used here as good practice)
• Managing Noise and Preventing Hearing Loss at Work 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 (whole-body vibration)
• Managing Risks of Hazardous Chemicals in the Workplace Code of Practice 2021 (fuel)
• Managing the Work Environment and Facilities Code of Practice 2021 (outdoor work, heat, remote or isolated work)
• First Aid in the Workplace Code of Practice 2021
• How to Manage Work Health and Safety Risks Code of Practice 2021
• How to Manage and Control Asbestos in the Workplace Code of Practice 2021 (dumped sheeting)
• Traffic Management for Construction or Maintenance Work Code of Practice 2008 (where the work is beside a road)
• 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 (chapter 6, clearing vegetation near lines; distances come from the 2026 Regulation)
• AS 2294 Earth-moving machinery – Protective structures, as named in the Rural Plant Code of Practice 2024
• Safe Work Australia model Code of Practice: Managing the risks of biological hazards at work (guidance)
• Safe Work Australia model Code of Practice: Managing the risk of fatigue at work (guidance)
• Safe Work Australia model Code of Practice: Elevating work platforms (guidance); its power line contact advice is applied by analogy

What You Get

• An editable Microsoft Word document (21 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.