Mobile Concrete Batching Plant SWMS

For concrete contractors and civil crews who run mobile batching plants on construction and civil sites. It follows the plant from the site plan and power lines through set-up, the daily check, loading bins and silos, truck loading, dust and noise control, blockages and cleaning, washout, servicing and moving. Crushing and screening plant and truck delivery of concrete need their own SWMS, and sites covered by the mining safety Acts are outside it.

Running a mobile batching plant is not high risk construction work by itself, so no item is pre-ticked; WHS Regulation s 299 requires a SWMS only for high risk construction work. Where the plant is set up at a construction site to supply concrete for that construction work, the batching is work carried out in connection with the construction and is construction work (s 289(1)); then tick movement of powered mobile plant (s 291(o)) for the loader and trucks, and any other reg 291 item that applies, such as energised electrical installations or services or a fall of more than 2 m. At a stand-alone batching yard the document works as a written safe work procedure and task risk assessment. Mines and quarries covered by the mining safety Acts are outside the WHS Act.

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

What Is Covered In Our Mobile Concrete Batching Plant SWMS?

After the standard pre-start checks, the job steps run from “Plan the site, power lines and exclusion zones” to “Shut down, make safe and move the plant”. The hazards and controls include:

• Entanglement at conveyors, screws and the mixer
• Starting during a blockage or cleaning
• Cement and silica dust
• Alkaline burns from wet cement
• Engulfment in silos and bins
• Silo delivery hose whip and over-pressure
• Loader and truck collisions
• Noise from the plant and loader
• Overhead power lines
• Falls from platforms and ladders
• Washout slurry and spills
• Plant tipping on set-up and moving

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

• Plant and loader operators trained and competent on the batching plant and feeding loader, including start-up, emergency stops, blockage clearing, isolation and the bin ramp (no Schedule 3 licence class covers them)
• General construction induction card (white card) and site induction
• Crystalline silica training for workers at risk from high risk silica processing, record kept (WHS Regulation s 529CD)
• Competent person to maintain, inspect and repair the plant (WHS Regulation s 213)
• Licensed electrical worker to connect the plant to the site supply or generator (Electrical Safety Act 2002 s 55)
• Tanker driver and operator trained in the silo delivery procedure
• Dogging licence for slinging heavy parts, and the crane licence class for any crane setting up the plant
• Appointed 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): ss 208, 210, 211, 213 (guarding, lock-off controls, emergency stops, maintenance); ss 214, 215 (mobile plant); ss 56 to 58 (noise, hearing loss); ch 8A ss 529A to 529CD (silica); ss 344, 346, 351 (SDS, register, chemical risks); ss 66 to 76 and Schedule 19 (confined spaces, silos and bins); s 60 (manual tasks)
• Codes of Practice 2021: Managing Risks of Plant; Managing Noise and Preventing Hearing Loss at Work; Confined Spaces; Managing Risks of Hazardous Chemicals; Hazardous Manual Tasks; Managing the Work Environment and Facilities (heat); First Aid; How to Manage WHS Risks
• Managing respirable crystalline silica dust exposure in construction and manufacturing of construction elements Code of Practice 2022 (good practice outside construction)
• Traffic Management for Construction or Maintenance Work Code of Practice 2008 (trucks entering or leaving a public road)
• Electrical Safety Act 2002 (Qld)
• Electrical Safety Regulation 2026 (Qld): overhead line exclusion zones ss 10 to 13 and schedule 2; underground lines ss 14 and 15
• Mining safety Acts: the WHS Act does not apply to a coal mine under the Coal Mining Safety and Health Act 1999 or a mine under the Mining and Quarrying Safety and Health Act 1999 (WHS Act schedule 1, part 2, division 1, section 2(1)(a) and (b)); a quarry is a mine unless a regulation declares otherwise (Mining and Quarrying Safety and Health Act 1999 s 9(1)(f) and (4))

What You Get

• An editable Microsoft Word document (16 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 (waterproof in the wet area) and high-visibility clothing; hard hat outside a cab or cabin where material could fall
• Emergency arrangements for: person caught in a conveyor, screw or mixer, person engulfed in a silo or bin 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.