Hydroseeding and Hydromulching SWMS

Suits civil, landscape and revegetation contractors who hydroseed and hydromulch batters, verges and landscaped areas. It covers slopes and plant stability, loading and mixing additives, the pump and agitator, cannon and hose spraying, overspray, traffic and wash-down.

Hydroseeding is construction work when it is done in connection with building, repairing or maintaining a road, embankment or other earthworks, or as site preparation for them (WHS Regulation ss 289(1), 289(2)(g) and 290); a SWMS is then required by law for high risk construction work (s 299). The truck-mounted unit moves on the work area, so powered mobile plant movement (s 291(o)) is ticked. Tick the other items the job involves: work on, in or adjacent to a road in use, a fall of more than 2 metres from a crest, and energised electrical installations or services. Where the job is not construction work the document works as a written safe work procedure.

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

What Is Covered In Our Hydroseeding and Hydromulching SWMS?

After the standard pre-start checks, the job steps run from “Plan the job, the ground and the spray area” to “Wash down, dispose of waste and pack up”. The hazards and controls include:

• Truck or trailer tipping on slopes and batters
• Slipping on wet slurry and wet slopes
• High-pressure jet and hose whip
• Overhead power line contact by the spray
• Overspray and drift onto traffic and houses
• Traffic beside verges and roadsides
• Dust from mulch, lime and fertiliser
• Skin and eye contact with additives
• Agitator, pump and power take-off entanglement
• Pressure release when changing nozzles
• Hose and bag manual handling
• Wash water reaching drains and waterways

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
• Driver licence for the class of the truck or the vehicle towing the trailer unit (Transport Operations (Road Use Management – Driver Licensing) Regulation 2021)
• Operator of the hydroseeder verified as competent on the unit, its pump, agitator, cannon and hose (Schedule 3 of the WHS Regulation has no high risk work licence class for this plant)
• Workers who handle mulch, tackifier, fertiliser and other additives trained in the SDS, the PPE and first aid for those products (WHS Regulation s 39), and supervised while they do it (s 379)
• Competent person to assess each batter, slope and verge for stability and for the slope and ground the unit can work on
• Traffic controllers hold current accreditation under the Transport and Main Roads Traffic Controller Accreditation Scheme (Transport Operations (Road Use Management – Accreditation and Other Provisions) Regulation 2015 ss 54 and 55) where traffic is directed
• Person who prepares the traffic management plan and traffic guidance scheme holds the Transport and Main Roads Traffic Management Design qualification
• First aid certificate for the person appointed as the job’s first aider (WHS Regulation s 42)

Legislation and Codes of Practice Referenced

• Work Health and Safety Act 2011 (Qld)
• Work Health and Safety Regulation 2011 (Qld)
• Managing Risks of Hazardous Chemicals in the Workplace Code of Practice 2021
• Labelling of Workplace Hazardous Chemicals Code of Practice 2021
• Preparation of Safety Data Sheets for Hazardous Chemicals Code of Practice 2021
• Managing Risks of Plant in the Workplace Code of Practice 2021
• Managing the Risk of Falls at Workplaces Code of Practice 2021
• Hazardous Manual Tasks Code of Practice 2021
• Managing Noise and Preventing Hearing Loss at Work Code of Practice 2021
• Confined Spaces Code of Practice 2021
• Traffic Management for Construction or Maintenance Work Code of Practice 2008
• 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): overhead and underground electric lines, ss 10 to 15 and Schedule 2
• Electrical Safety Code of Practice 2020 – Working near overhead and underground electric lines
• Environmental Protection Act 1994 (Qld): general environmental duty, s 319
• Transport and Main Roads, Queensland Guide to Temporary Traffic Management Part 3: Static Worksites (guide)

What You Get

• An editable Microsoft Word document (14 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 glasses, with chemical splash goggles when loading dry additives and when cleaning nozzles; cut-resistant gloves, and chemical-resistant gloves for additives as the SDS says
• Emergency arrangements for: person struck by the jet or trapped by a hose, agitator or pump, unit tipping or sliding on a slope and chemical or slurry in the eyes
• 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.