Landscaping SWMS

For landscapers, gardeners and builders who prepare soil, plant, edge and mulch garden beds and lawns. It follows the job from site inspection and services checks through deliveries, digging, small plant, planting and mulching to clean-up. It does not cover retaining walls, paving or post hole digger work, which each need a separate SWMS.

Landscaping is construction work when it is site preparation connected with work on a structure, or is work connected with a trench or shaft (WHS Regulation s 289). 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 work beside a road in use; otherwise this document works as a written safe work procedure or task risk assessment.

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 Landscaping 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 services
• Contact with overhead power lines
• Suspected asbestos in soil and fill
• Strains from digging, lifting and wheelbarrows
• Trench collapse and open holes
• Tillers, brushcutters and hedge trimmers cutting or throwing debris
• Noise and hand-arm vibration from petrol plant
• Petrol fire and lithium-ion battery charging
• Dust, mould and soil bacteria from soil and mulch
• Garden chemicals on skin, eyes and lungs
• Heat illness, sunburn and UV exposure
• Snake, spider and fire ant bites and stings

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) when the work is construction work under WHS Regulation s 289, such as site preparation for building work or work connected with a trench or shaft
• Schedule 3 of the WHS Regulation has no high risk work licence class for general landscaping, hand tools or small petrol and battery plant
• Workers trained in the safe use of each item of small plant (the manufacturer’s start-up, shut-down and emergency stop procedures, guards and harnesses) and in manual handling for digging, lifting and carrying
• Trained person to operate the cable and pipe locator and mark underground services
• Workers trained in the label and SDS for each garden chemical before they first use it
• Herbicide licensing: hand-powered sprayers, equipment powered by compressed air or gas applied straight to the spray liquid, and hose proportioning devices need no licence outside hazardous areas; applying herbicide with other powered ground equipment, when that is the main purpose the client engaged you for, needs a commercial operators licence (G) for the operator and a ground distribution contractor licence (GDC) for the business under the Agricultural Chemicals Distribution Control Act 1966, in the areas where that Act applies (Business Queensland, ‘Licensing arrangements for ground distribution of herbicides’); read the label and SDS before each use
• A worker trained in first aid, or access to a trained first aider, including for cuts, heat illness, snake bite and severe allergic reactions
• Site induction and the client’s or principal contractor’s access, safety and working-hours rules

Legislation and Codes of Practice Referenced

• Work Health and Safety Act 2011 (Qld)
• Work Health and Safety Regulation 2011 (Qld)
• Hazardous Manual Tasks Code of Practice 2021
• Managing Risks of Plant in the Workplace Code of Practice 2021
• Managing Risks of Hazardous Chemicals in the Workplace Code of Practice 2021
• Labelling of Workplace Hazardous Chemicals Code of Practice 2021 (decanted containers)
• Managing Noise and Preventing Hearing Loss at Work Code of Practice 2021
• Managing the Work Environment and Facilities Code of Practice 2021 (outdoor work, heat, UV and remote work)
• First Aid in the Workplace Code of Practice 2021
• Excavation Work Code of Practice 2021 (digging, trenches and underground services)
• How to Manage and Control Asbestos in the Workplace Code of Practice 2021 (suspect fibre cement in soil and fill)
• How to Manage Work Health and Safety Risks Code of Practice 2021
• Traffic Management for Construction or Maintenance Work Code of Practice 2008 (work on or beside a road)
• Electrical Safety Act 2002 (Qld)
• Electrical Safety Regulation 2026 (Qld): overhead and underground electric lines, with exclusion zones in schedule 2, and portable electrical equipment (ss 138-140)
• Electrical Safety Code of Practice 2020 – Working near overhead and underground electric lines (distances come from the 2026 Regulation)
• Safe Work Australia model Code of Practice: Managing the risks of biological hazards at work (guidance)

What You Get

• An editable Microsoft Word document (18 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.