Four Wheel Driving SWMS

Suits pastoral and rural crews, land managers, surveyors, rangers, utility and service workers and anyone who drives four wheel drive vehicles off-road for work. It follows the trip in order: planning and permissions, vehicle and load checks, remote communications, steep and rough terrain, sand and mud, water crossings, wildlife and weather, hand recovery of a stuck vehicle, fatigue, and breakdowns. Recovery with winches and snatch straps and general road driving need their own SWMS.

Four wheel driving for work is not high risk construction work by itself, so no item is pre-ticked and a SWMS is required by law only for high risk construction work (WHS Regulation s 299); otherwise the document works as a written safe work procedure and task risk assessment that you tailor to your vehicles and routes. If the driving is part of construction work, tick the reg 291 items that apply, for example movement of powered mobile plant in the work area, or energised electrical installations or services where overhead lines are near.

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

What Is Covered In Our Four Wheel Driving SWMS?

After the standard pre-start checks, the job steps run from “Plan the trip, route and permissions” to “Respond to a breakdown, rollover or being stranded, then return and report”. The hazards and controls include:

• Rollover on steep, rough and side-sloping ground
• Bogging in sand, mud and soft ground
• Water crossings and floodwater
• Remote travel with no phone coverage
• Check-ins and journey plans for isolated workers
• Unrestrained occupants and loose items in the cab
• Gate handling and hidden track hazards
• Overhead power lines and low branches on tracks
• Wildlife, bushfire, storm and dust on tracks
• Manual handling when digging and moving boards
• Fatigue and heat on long days
• Breakdown, rollover and being stranded

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

• Current driver licence for the class of vehicle and trailer driven, sighted and recorded before the person drives for work
• Four wheel drive and off-road driving training suited to the vehicle and the terrain, with each driver’s competency checked before they drive off-road unsupervised (WHS Regulation s 39; the Managing the Work Environment and Facilities Code of Practice 2021 lists driving off-road vehicles among the training for remote work)
• Trip leader or competent person who plans the route, checks the vehicle and gear and decides when to turn back
• Training in the communication equipment carried (satellite phone, two-way radio, personal locator beacon) and in the check-in procedure
• Trained first aiders or access to them as the work needs (WHS Regulation s 42), with remote first aid and snake bite response, and a first aid kit with the remote items
• Training in recovering a stuck vehicle with hand tools and traction aids; recovery with a winch or snatch strap needs the separate SWMS and its training
• Site or property induction from the landholder or land manager where one is required, and a general construction induction training card (white card) only where the driving is part of construction work

Legislation and Codes of Practice Referenced

• Work Health and Safety Act 2011 (Qld)
• Work Health and Safety Regulation 2011 (Qld)
• Work Health and Safety Act 2011 (Qld) s 8 (a vehicle can be a workplace)
• Work Health and Safety Regulation 2011 (Qld): s 48 (remote or isolated work), s 213 (maintenance and inspection), ss 214 and 215 (powered mobile plant, including no riders unless protected as the operator is)
• Managing Risks of Plant in the Workplace Code of Practice 2021 (powered mobile plant s 3.8)
• Managing the Work Environment and Facilities Code of Practice 2021 (remote or isolated work s 4.2)
• First Aid in the Workplace Code of Practice 2021 (kits in vehicles, remote items in Appendix E)
• Hazardous Manual Tasks Code of Practice 2021 (whole-body vibration and manual handling)
• Managing Risks of Hazardous Chemicals in the Workplace Code of Practice 2021 (fuel and gas)
• 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
• Transport Operations (Road Use Management) Act 1995 (Qld) and the road rules and driver licensing rules made under it, which apply on every public road section of a trip
• Transport Operations (Road Use Management – Dangerous Goods) Regulation 2018 (Qld): s 6 (tools of trade)
• Petroleum and Gas (Safety) Regulation 2018 (Qld): ss 140 to 144 (fuel gas cylinders in enclosed vehicles)
• 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: sturdy enclosed boots with good grip for walking tracks, digging and handling recovery gear; gloves for gates, wire, shovelling and tyre changes
• Emergency arrangements for: rollover or crash, stranded, lost or overdue and vehicle fire or bushfire
• 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.