HDD Pipe Pull-Back SWMS

Suits civil, utility and telecommunications crews who pull polyethylene or steel pipe back through a bore after horizontal directional drilling. It follows the job from the pull-back plan and exclusion zones through pipe handling, rigging the pulling head, the pull itself, the pits and releasing tension to a response plan for a stuck pull or strike. The drilling operation and the fluid system are covered by separate SWMS.

Pre-ticked: powered mobile plant movement, because the rig, excavators and pipe handlers move around the bore on every pull-back. Also tick the energised electrical installations or services item if overhead lines or buried cables lie near the rig, pits or pipe string route, the road or traffic corridor item if pits, plant or the pipe string are on or beside a road in use, the shaft or trench item if an entry or exit pit works as a shaft or trench deeper than 1.5 metres, the pressurised gas mains and chemical, fuel or refrigerant lines items if the services information shows those lines near the bore, and the confined space item if a pit meets the definition.

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

What Is Covered In Our HDD Pipe Pull-Back SWMS?

After the standard pre-start checks, the job steps run from “Plan the pull-back and check the bore records” to “Backfill pits, clean up and hand over”. The hazards and controls include:

• Failure of tensioned pulling gear
• Pipe string moving or springing unexpectedly
• Rig sliding or lifting under the pull
• Pulling head and swivel connection injuries
• Dropped or rolling pipe lengths
• Excavators and side-booms lifting pipe
• Striking buried electricity, gas and other services
• Overhead power line contact by plant and pipe
• Pit collapse and falls into pits
• Hose failure, fluid spills and frac-out
• Workers struck by passing vehicles
• Stored tension when cutting and disconnecting the pipe

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

• General construction induction training card (white card) for construction work
• HDD rig operator trained and assessed as competent on the rig, the locator and the pulling equipment (no high risk work licence class applies to operating a drill rig)
• Competent person, such as an engineer or the pipe maker’s representative, to set the pull-back plan and its limits
• High risk work licence in the dogging class, or a higher rigging class (Schedule 3 items 4 to 7), for anyone who applies slinging techniques to sling pipe or tooling, or directs a plant operator moving a load that is out of the operator’s view (Schedule 19, dogging work)
• Excavator, side-boom or pipe handler operator trained and assessed as competent on the machine (no high risk work licence class applies to excavators); any crane used needs the licence class Schedule 3 names for it
• Welders and fusion machine operators trained for the pipe and process, working under their own SWMS
• Accredited traffic controllers where traffic control is needed on or beside a road (Transport Operations (Road Use Management – Accreditation and Other Provisions) Regulation 2015 ss 51, 54, 55; separate SWMS)
• Spotters briefed on radio signals, the exclusion zones and the stop signal
• Site induction; an adequate number of workers trained in first aid, or access to trained people (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): plant ss 206, 208, 210, 213, 215 and 219 (proper use, guarding, operator controls, maintenance and inspection, powered mobile plant, plant that lifts or suspends loads)
• Work Health and Safety Regulation 2011 (Qld): s 304 (underground essential services information) and ss 305 and 306 (excavation work and trenches) where an entry or exit pit is a trench or shaft
• Work Health and Safety Regulation 2011 (Qld): s 60 (hazardous manual tasks), ss 56 and 57 (noise) and s 357 (spills)
• Excavation Work 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
• Managing Noise and Preventing Hearing Loss at Work Code of Practice 2021
• Welding Processes Code of Practice 2021 (for the welding or fusing covered by the separate SWMS)
• Traffic Management for Construction or Maintenance Work Code of Practice 2008
• Transport Operations (Road Use Management – Accreditation and Other Provisions) Regulation 2015 (Qld): traffic controllers, sections 51 to 55
• 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
• Electrical Safety Act 2002 (Qld)
• Electrical Safety Regulation 2026 (Qld): ss 10 to 13 and sch 2 (overhead power line exclusion zones and unsafe distances)
• Electrical Safety Regulation 2026 (Qld): ss 14 and 15 (underground electric lines)
• Electrical Safety Code of Practice 2020 – Working near overhead and underground electric lines

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
• 9 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 toe protection; high-visibility clothing to the class the site or road plan requires; hard hat; safety glasses, and a face shield near fluid under pressure
• Emergency arrangements for: tool, rod or pulling gear failure under tension, or a stuck pipe, rod or tool strikes an electricity cable and gas main or fuel line strike
• 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.