Plastering and Plasterboard SWMS

Suits plasterers, plasterboard fixers, builders and renovators who hang, join and sand plasterboard and apply solid plaster inside buildings. It covers checking the building for asbestos and hidden services, storing and handling sheets, working from trestles, platforms, ladders and stilts, cutting and fixing, jointing and sanding with dust control, and clean-up. Cement rendering and ceiling grid installation are covered by the separate Cement Rendering SWMS and Ceiling Grid Installation SWMS.

A SWMS is legally required under the WHS Regulation (s 299) when the work is high risk construction work, which for plastering usually means work with a risk of falling more than 2 metres, such as stair voids, high ceilings and scaffolds, so that is the item ticked; for work from low platforms with no such fall, this document works as a written safe work procedure and task risk assessment. You can also tick the contaminated atmosphere item (s 291(l)) when sanding, cutting or mixing a product that contains crystalline silica creates silica dust, because the approved Queensland silica code treats construction work with a risk of silica exposure as work in an area that may have a contaminated atmosphere.

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 Plastering and Plasterboard SWMS?

The job steps run in the order the work is done, from pre-start checks to finishing up. The hazards and controls include:

• Falls from trestle platforms, scaffolds and stair voids
• Falls from stilts
• Ladders used for work instead of access
• Sheets falling while lifted overhead
• Strains from heavy, awkward sheets
• Floors and framing overloaded by stacked sheets
• Asbestos in older linings and coatings
• Screws and nails hitting live cables and pipes
• Cuts from knives and cut-out tools
• Fine dust and silica from sanding and mixing
• Skin and eye burns from lime, cement and plaster
• Carbon monoxide from fuel-burning heaters
• Noise, heat and fatigue

High Risk Construction Work

These high risk construction work items (WHS Regulation 2011 (Qld) s 291) are already ticked because they are part of this work. Tick any others that apply to your job:

• Involves a risk of a person falling more than 2m

Licences, Training and Competency

• General construction induction training card (white card) for construction work, and site induction
• Verified competency in plasterboard handling, fixing and jointing, and in solid plastering, with trainees and apprentices working under supervision
• Training and verified competency in the stilts, trestle platforms, mobile scaffold, ladders and lifting aids used
• High risk work licence for the scaffolding class that matches any scaffold from which a person or object could fall more than 4 m, for anyone erecting, altering or dismantling it (usually a scaffolder under a separate Scaffolding SWMS)
• High risk work licence for the class of the crane where Schedule 3 requires one, and in the dogging class or a higher rigging class for anyone slinging a load or directing a plant operator when the load is out of the operator’s view (WHS Regulation Schedule 3 and Schedule 19, dogging work)
• Training in asbestos identification and safe handling (asbestos awareness) for workers who may cut, fix or sand existing linings
• Respirator fit test and training for workers who wear P2 respirators
• Crystalline silica training (VET accredited course or training approved by the regulator) where the silica assessment finds the cutting, sanding or mixing high risk

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
• Scaffolding Code of Practice 2021
• Hazardous Manual Tasks Code of Practice 2021
• Managing Risks of Plant in the Workplace Code of Practice 2021
• Managing respirable crystalline silica dust exposure in construction and manufacturing of construction elements Code of Practice 2022
• AS/NZS 1716:2012 (Respiratory protective devices) and AS/NZS 1715:2009 (Selection, use and maintenance of respiratory protective equipment), as named in WHS Regulation s 529B
• Managing Risks of Hazardous Chemicals in the Workplace Code of Practice 2021
• How to Manage and Control Asbestos 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 (ventilation, heat and cold)
• First Aid in the Workplace Code of Practice 2021
• Mobile Crane Code of Practice 2024 (where a crane or vehicle loading crane lifts sheet packs)
• Electrical Safety Act 2002 (Qld)
• Electrical Safety Regulation 2026 (Qld): electrical equipment on construction sites (s 140)
• Electrical Safety Code of Practice 2021 – Managing electrical risks in the workplace

What You Get

• An editable Microsoft Word document (16 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.