Low Loader Machinery Loading and Unloading SWMS

For plant transport companies, earthmoving contractors, hire firms and farm operators who move machinery on low loaders. It follows the work from the pre-start check and planning to ramps, driving on, securing, travelling, unloading and packing up.

Loading machinery onto a low loader is transport work, not construction work, so no high risk construction work item is pre-ticked; a SWMS is legally required only for high risk construction work (WHS Regulation s 299), and otherwise the document works as a written safe work procedure or task risk assessment. If the loading is part of construction work, tick any reg 291 item that applies, for example work in an area where powered mobile plant moves (item o) or work on, in or next to a road in use by traffic (item n).

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

What Is Covered In Our Low Loader Machinery Loading and Unloading SWMS?

After the standard pre-start checks, the job steps run from “Pre-start check of the prime mover, low loader and ramps” to “Pack up, stow ramps and chains”. The hazards and controls include:

• Machine rolling off the ramp or deck
• Chain or binder snap-back
• Crush by ramps and the beavertail
• Struck by the machine or a spotter in its path
• Contact with overhead power lines
• Load shifting in transit
• Wet or greasy ramps and slips
• Overheight and overwidth loads
• Manual handling of chains and binders
• Fatigue on long hauls

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

• Driver licence for the class of heavy vehicle driven
• Training and verified competency in loading and unloading machinery on a low loader, including chains and binders
• Operator competency for the machine being loaded; Schedule 3 has no licence class for earthmoving machinery such as an excavator, loader or dozer, but a machine that is itself licensed plant (for example a forklift) needs its licence class to drive
• General construction induction training card (white card) when the work is construction work or the site requires it
• Site induction and the site traffic rules

Legislation and Codes of Practice Referenced

• Work Health and Safety Act 2011 (Qld)
• Work Health and Safety Regulation 2011 (Qld)
• Heavy Vehicle National Law (Queensland), applied by the Heavy Vehicle National Law Act 2012 (Qld): s 6 (heavy vehicle means a vehicle with a GVM or ATM of more than 4.5 t), s 26C (primary duty of each party in the chain of responsibility), s 96 (compliance with mass requirements), s 110 (national regulations may prescribe loading requirements), s 111 (compliance with the loading requirements) and s 228 (duty of driver to avoid driving while fatigued or unfit to drive)
• National Load Restraint Guide (National Heavy Vehicle Regulator): guidance, not law
• Managing Risks of Plant in the Workplace Code of Practice 2021
• Hazardous Manual Tasks Code of Practice 2021
• How to Manage Work Health and Safety Risks Code of Practice 2021
• Electrical Safety Regulation 2026 (Qld): overhead power line exclusion zones in sections 10 to 13 and schedule 2
• Electrical Safety Code of Practice 2020 – Working near overhead and underground electric lines
• Traffic Management for Construction or Maintenance Work Code of Practice 2008 (work on or beside a road)
• Safe Work Australia model Code of Practice: Managing the risk of fatigue at work (guidance)

What You Get

• An editable Microsoft Word document (13 A4 landscape pages). Type your business, client and job details once and they fill in on every page, with a space for your logo
• 10 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 a non-slip sole; high-visibility clothing; gloves for chains and binders; safety glasses when tensioning binders
• Emergency arrangements for: machine rolls off the ramp or deck and power line contact (general guidance)
• 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.