Office Fit-Out SWMS

Suits fit-out contractors and builders working on commercial offices in new or occupied buildings. It covers the asbestos and building review, deliveries and site set-up, services isolation, partitions, ceilings, flooring, joinery, coordination of trades and hot work, and handover. Internal strip-out and soft demolition are covered by Internal Strip-Out and Soft Demolition SWMS.

An office fit-out is construction work (WHS Regulation s 289), but a SWMS is legally required only when the work is high risk construction work (s 299), so no item is ticked here. Tick the items the job involves, such as asbestos disturbance, energised electrical services, a risk of falling more than 2 metres, powered mobile plant, or the contaminated atmosphere item when grinding or cutting creates silica dust. Otherwise it works as a written safe work procedure.

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

What Is Covered In Our Office Fit-Out SWMS?

After the standard pre-start checks, the job steps run from “Review the premises, plans and existing conditions” to “Clean up, test and hand over”. The hazards and controls include:

• Hidden asbestos in older buildings
• Live services in ceilings, walls and floors
• Fixing into post-tensioned slabs
• Falls from ladders and mobile platforms
• Overhead work and falling objects
• Heavy sheets, joinery and flooring
• Dust from plasterboard and concrete
• Fumes from adhesives and sealants
• Delivery and loading dock traffic
• Fire detection isolation and hot work
• Trades working above and below each other

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

• General construction induction training card (white card) for construction work
• Licensed electrician, licensed plumber and other licensed trades for services work
• Asbestos identification and handling training for workers who may meet asbestos (WHS Regulation s 445)
• Crystalline silica training where the dust assessment finds the work high risk
• Hot work training and fire watch competence where hot work is carried out
• Building induction and fire warden briefing from the building manager
• Site induction

Legislation and Codes of Practice Referenced

• Work Health and Safety Act 2011 (Qld)
• Work Health and Safety Regulation 2011 (Qld)
• Managing the Risk of Falls at Workplaces Code of Practice 2021
• Managing Risks of Plant in the Workplace Code of Practice 2021
• Hazardous Manual Tasks Code of Practice 2021
• How to Manage and Control Asbestos in the Workplace Code of Practice 2021
• How to Safely Remove Asbestos Code of Practice 2021
• Managing respirable crystalline silica dust exposure in construction and manufacturing of construction elements Code of Practice 2022
• Managing Risks of Hazardous Chemicals in the Workplace Code of Practice 2021
• Managing Noise and Preventing Hearing Loss at Work Code of Practice 2021
• Managing the Work Environment and Facilities Code of Practice 2021
• How to Manage Work Health and Safety Risks Code of Practice 2021
• First Aid in the Workplace Code of Practice 2021
• Electrical Safety Act 2002 (Qld)
• Electrical Safety Regulation 2026 (Qld): electrical work and exclusion zones (schedule 2)
• Electrical Safety Code of Practice 2021 – Managing electrical risks in the workplace

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
• 9 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; hard hat in overhead work areas; safety glasses; gloves
• Emergency arrangements for: building evacuation and fire from hot work
• 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.