Pylon and Billboard Sign Installation SWMS

Suits sign contractors, crane crews and civil and electrical subcontractors who install pylon and billboard signs. It follows the job from design, approvals and the lift plan, through the footing and pour, the crane lift, bolting down and bracing, and work at height on the sign face, to electrical connection and handover. Wall, fascia and awning signs are covered by the Signage Installation at Height SWMS.

Installing a sign structure and its footing is treated here as construction work (installation and excavation work on a structure, WHS Regulation s 289), and the fall (item 0) and powered mobile plant (item 14) items are pre-ticked because both are part of the job. Tick the trench or shaft over 1.5 m item if the footing is that deep, the energised services item if the site has overhead lines or buried cables, and the road in use item for roadside sites.

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 Pylon and Billboard Sign Installation SWMS?

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

• Crane overturn, dropped loads and rigging failure
• Wind on large sign faces
• Falls from EWPs, scaffolds and the structure
• Contact with overhead power lines
• Striking underground services
• Open footing holes and collapse
• Wet concrete burns and pump hazards
• Electric shock during sign connection
• Falling objects onto the public
• Traffic beside roadside sites

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
• Is carried out in an area at a workplace in which there is any movement of powered mobile plant

Licences, Training and Competency

• General construction induction training card (white card) for construction work, and site induction
• High risk work licence for the class of crane used: a vehicle loading crane, non-slewing mobile crane or slewing mobile crane class, as the crane’s capacity requires (WHS Regulation Schedule 3)
• High risk work licence in the dogging class, or a higher rigging class, for anyone who slings the sign or directs the crane operator when the load is out of the operator’s view (Schedule 3; Schedule 19, dogging work)
• High risk work licence for a boom-type elevating work platform where the boom is 11 m or more (Schedule 3, item 21); no licence class applies to scissor lifts or shorter booms, but operators must be trained and verified as competent on the model
• High risk work licence for a concrete placing boom if one is used (Schedule 3, item 22)
• Licensed electrical worker for supplying, connecting and testing the sign (Electrical Safety Act 2002 s 55)
• Engineer or competent person to design the sign and footing and to confirm the installation, fixings and concrete strength
• Spotters or safety observers briefed on the exclusion zones and signals; trained traffic controllers where traffic is stopped or directed
• Training in fall arrest harness use and platform rescue, and a ground person trained in the EWP’s ground controls and emergency lowering
• Crystalline silica training where the dust assessment finds the processing of a silica-containing substance (such as concrete or rock) high risk (WHS Regulation s 529CD)
• An adequate number of workers trained in first aid, or access to them (WHS Regulation s 42)

Legislation and Codes of Practice Referenced

• Work Health and Safety Act 2011 (Qld)
• Work Health and Safety Regulation 2011 (Qld)
• Mobile Crane Code of Practice 2024
• Managing the Risk of Falls at Workplaces Code of Practice 2021
• Excavation Work Code of Practice 2021
• Managing Risks of Plant in the Workplace Code of Practice 2021
• Concrete Pumping Code of Practice 2019
• Safe Design of Structures Code of Practice 2021
• Traffic Management for Construction or Maintenance Work Code of Practice 2008
• Hazardous Manual Tasks Code of Practice 2021
• Managing Risks of Hazardous Chemicals in the Workplace Code of Practice 2021
• Managing respirable crystalline silica dust exposure in construction and manufacturing of construction elements Code of Practice 2022
• Managing Noise and Preventing Hearing Loss at Work Code of Practice 2021
• First Aid in the Workplace Code of Practice 2021
• How to Manage Work Health and Safety Risks Code of Practice 2021
• Electrical Safety Act 2002 (Qld)
• Electrical Safety Regulation 2026 (Qld): ss 10 to 13 and schedule 2 (exclusion zones for overhead electric lines), ss 14 and 15 (underground electric lines), ss 139 and 140, ss 199 and 200
• Electrical Safety Code of Practice 2020 – Working near overhead and underground electric lines (distances come from the 2026 Regulation)
• AS 2550.1 Cranes, hoists and winches – Safe use – General requirements (as named in the Mobile Crane Code of Practice 2024)
• Safe Work Australia model Code of Practice: Elevating work platforms (guidance)
• Safe Work Australia model Code of Practice: Managing the risk of fatigue at work (guidance)

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.