Irrigation System Installation SWMS

Suits irrigation installers, landscapers, farm contractors and builders who put in garden and farm irrigation. It follows the job from planning and locating underground services through digging, laying pipe, fitting pumps, valves and controllers to flushing, pressure testing and handover, and says which parts need a licensed plumber or electrician and which are unregulated plumbing work. Trenches deeper than 1.5 metres and electrical connections are covered by separate SWMS.

Installing irrigation is construction work (a pipeline is a structure and excavation is included, WHS Regulation s 289), but it is not high risk construction work by itself. A SWMS is legally required under s 299 only for high risk construction work (s 291), such as a trench deeper than 1.5 metres, work near energised services or powered mobile plant, or work in or near water with a risk of drowning; otherwise this document works as a written safe work procedure or task risk assessment. No item is ticked by default: tick the items that apply to your job.

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 Irrigation System Installation SWMS?

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

• Striking underground cables, gas and water lines
• Contact with overhead power lines from pipe and plant
• Trench collapse and falls into open trenches
• Strains from carrying long pipe lengths and pumps
• Primer and solvent cement fumes and fire
• Pipes and fittings failing under pressure
• Drowning risk at dams, tanks and creeks
• Low oxygen and fumes in tanks, pits and pump sheds
• Rotating pump shafts, couplings and engine exhaust
• Electric shock from pump motors and controllers
• Licensed plumbing work and backflow prevention devices
• Heat, sun, snakes and stinging insects
• Open trenches left in paddocks and gardens
• Noise from trenchers, breakers and engine pumps

High Risk Construction Work

No high risk construction work items (WHS Regulation 2011 (Qld) s 291) are pre-ticked, because this work is not high risk construction work by itself. Tick the items that apply to your job, such as a fall risk of more than 2 metres or work where powered mobile plant is moving.

Licences, Training and Competency

• General construction induction training card (white card) for construction work, and the property owner’s or manager’s induction (gates, stock, chemicals and biosecurity rules)
• Plumbing licence for plumbing work, other than unregulated work and the other exemptions in s 58 (Plumbing and Drainage Act 2018 ss 56 and 58): a plumbers licence, or the restricted licence for water plumbing work restricted to irrigation (Plumbing and Drainage Regulation 2019 Sch 4)
• Plumber with the backflow prevention endorsement on a plumbers licence, for testing, commissioning and maintaining backflow prevention devices (Plumbing and Drainage Regulation 2019 Sch 4 Pt 4)
• Licensed electrician (electrical work licence that authorises the work) for mains-voltage wiring, switchboards and the pump supply; the business holds an electrical contractor licence when it does electrical work (Electrical Safety Act 2002 ss 55 and 56)
• Plant operator trained and assessed on the trencher, excavator or backhoe used (Schedule 3 of the WHS Regulation has no high risk work licence class for trenchers, excavators or backhoes); the licence for the forklift truck class where a forklift moves pipe, pumps or tanks
• High risk work licence in the dogging class, or a higher rigging class (WHS Regulation Schedule 3 items 4 to 7), for anyone who applies slinging techniques to sling a pump, tank or pipe bundle for lifting, or who directs a plant operator moving a load that is out of the operator’s view (Schedule 19, dogging work)
• Trained user of the cable and pipe locator, competent in its use
• Safety observer (spotter) briefed on the exclusion zones and hand signals where plant or long pipes work near overhead lines
• Training in the safe use of PVC primer and solvent cement, and in polyethylene pipe fusion where used
• Confined space entry training and a separate SWMS if a tank, pit or well must be entered
• First aid training for an adequate number of workers (WHS Regulation s 42), including snake bite response

Legislation and Codes of Practice Referenced

• Work Health and Safety Act 2011 (Qld)
• Work Health and Safety Regulation 2011 (Qld)
• Excavation Work Code of Practice 2021
• Rural Plant Code of Practice 2024 (section 7.8, irrigation and associated equipment)
• 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
• Confined Spaces Code of Practice 2021
• How to Manage and Control Asbestos in the Workplace Code of Practice 2021
• 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
• Work Health and Safety Consultation, Co-operation and Co-ordination Code of Practice 2021
• Plumbing and Drainage Act 2018 (Qld): licensing and unregulated work (ss 56 to 58), backflow prevention devices (s 71)
• Plumbing and Drainage Regulation 2019 (Qld): Schedules 1 to 4, testable backflow prevention devices (ss 102 and 103)
• Electrical Safety Act 2002 (Qld)
• Electrical Safety Regulation 2026 (Qld): overhead and underground electric lines (ss 10 to 15 and Schedule 2) and electrical equipment (ss 140 and 141)
• Electrical Safety Code of Practice 2020 – Electrical equipment rural industry
• Electrical Safety Code of Practice 2020 – Working near overhead and underground electric lines (distances come from the 2026 Regulation)

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.