Motorcycle and E-Bike Courier SWMS

For courier companies, delivery businesses and owner-riders who deliver parcels and food by motorcycle or e-bike. It follows the shift from run planning and the bike and battery check through loading, riding between stops, parking and carrying parcels, dogs and difficult customers, heat and wet weather, battery charging and damaged parcels, to the end of the shift. Van deliveries and heavy vehicle driving need their own SWMS.

Courier work on a motorcycle or e-bike is not construction work, so WHS Regulation s 299 requires a SWMS only if the work is part of high risk construction work; otherwise this document works as a written safe work procedure and task risk assessment, and no high risk construction work item is pre-ticked. If the job is construction work, tick the reg 291 items that apply.

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

What Is Covered In Our Motorcycle and E-Bike Courier SWMS?

After the standard pre-start checks, the job steps run from “Plan the shift and check the run” to “End of shift: return, report and rest”. The hazards and controls include:

• Collision with cars, trucks and pedestrians
• Not being seen by drivers at intersections and doors
• Loss of control on wet roads and at night
• Phone and app distraction while riding
• Time pressure and incentives that push riders to speed
• Fatigue on long or split shifts
• Heat illness, sun and storms
• Overloaded or badly secured loads
• Strains from lifting and carrying parcels
• Dog bites and aggressive customers
• E-bike battery fire while charging
• Damaged or leaking parcels

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

• Licence for the vehicle ridden: a motorcycle licence of the class the road laws require for a motorcycle; to ride an electrically power-assisted cycle or personal mobility device on a road, a road-related area or in a public place a person must be at least 16 and hold a valid Queensland or non-Queensland driver licence, unless a regulated exemption applies (Transport Operations (Road Use Management) Act 1995 s 78B). Other licensing rules are named generally and not reproduced here
• Induction in the business’s procedures for bike checks, run planning, parcel handling, dangerous goods and lithium batteries, check-ins and incident reporting
• Rider training and verified competence for the bike and the conditions, including loaded riding, wet weather and night riding, repeated after any incident
• Manual handling instruction for carrying parcels by bike
• Awareness training in dealing with aggressive customers and dogs, and in working alone
• Maker’s instructions on handling and charging the e-bike battery, and the business’s lithium battery procedure
• First aid arrangements suited to roadside work (WHS Regulation s 42): a charged phone, a compact first aid kit for riders and trained first aiders or access to them at the depot
• No high risk work licence is needed to ride or deliver by motorcycle or e-bike (WHS Regulation schedule 3)

Legislation and Codes of Practice Referenced

• Work Health and Safety Act 2011 (Qld)
• Work Health and Safety Regulation 2011 (Qld)
• Work Health and Safety Act 2011 (Qld) ss 7 and 8: a worker includes a contractor, and a workplace includes any place a worker goes while at work, including a vehicle
• Work Health and Safety Regulation 2011 (Qld) ss 40(f) and 48: extremes of heat, and remote or isolated work
• Work Health and Safety Regulation 2011 (Qld) s 60: hazardous manual tasks
• Work Health and Safety Regulation 2011 (Qld) ss 55A to 55D: psychosocial hazards and risks (the psychosocial hazards code lists work-related violence and aggression as an example)
• Hazardous Manual Tasks Code of Practice 2021
• Managing the risk of psychosocial hazards at work Code of Practice 2022
• Managing the Work Environment and Facilities Code of Practice 2021 (heat, remote or isolated work)
• First Aid in the Workplace Code of Practice 2021
• How to Manage Work Health and Safety Risks Code of Practice 2021
• Safe Work Australia model Code of Practice: Managing the risk of fatigue at work (model code, not approved in Queensland; guidance only)
• Transport Operations (Road Use Management) Act 1995 (Qld): ss 146 and 150 (power to make regulations on driver behaviour, loading and securing loads, and driver testing and licensing)
• Transport Operations (Road Use Management) Act 1995 (Qld): s 6 (prohibited bikes) and s 78B (licence needed to ride an electrically power-assisted cycle or personal mobility device on a road)
• Queensland road rules, vehicle registration and driver licensing rules: named generally and not reproduced here

What You Get

• An editable Microsoft Word document (15 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: approved helmet of the standard the road rules require, correctly fitted and fastened, and replaced after any impact or damage
• Emergency arrangements for: crash, battery overheating, smoking or on fire and dog attack or violent customer
• 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.