Raised Tipper Body Maintenance and Body Prop SWMS

Suits heavy vehicle mechanics, truck body repairers, fleet workshops and tipper operators who must work under or beside a raised tipper body. It follows the job in order: planning, parking the truck, overhead clearances, emptying the body, raising it and fitting the maker’s prop, testing the support, isolating stored energy, the work itself, hydraulic repairs and lowering the body. Operating a tipper is covered by the separate Dump Truck SWMS, and other raised plant components such as buckets and booms by the Working Under Raised Plant Components SWMS.

Maintenance of a tipper truck is not high risk construction work by itself, so no item is pre-ticked and a SWMS is required by law only for high risk construction work (WHS Regulation s 299). If the work is part of construction work, tick the reg 291 items that apply, such as movement of powered mobile plant in the area or a fall risk of more than 2 metres; otherwise the document works as a written safe work procedure and task risk assessment that you tailor to your truck.

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

What Is Covered In Our Raised Tipper Body Maintenance and Body Prop SWMS?

After the standard pre-start checks, the job steps run from “Plan the job and decide whether anyone must go under the raised body” to “Remove the prop, lower the body and return the truck to service”. The hazards and controls include:

• Raised tipper body collapsing onto a worker
• Missing, wrong or dislodged body prop
• Hydraulic creep and loss of hoist pressure
• Stored energy in hydraulic and air systems
• Engine or hoist started during maintenance
• Truck rolling or tipping with the body raised
• Body or hoist touching overhead power lines
• Residue and the tailgate falling or swinging
• Hydraulic fluid injection and hot oil
• Falls from the tray or body edge
• Crush and pinch points at hinges and cylinders
• Strains lifting pins, cylinders and tailgates
• Guards and tools left off at return to service

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

• Trade qualification, or equivalent experience, as a heavy vehicle mechanic, fitter or truck body repairer for work on tipper bodies and hoist systems
• Training and verified competency on the truck’s body prop, hoist controls, isolation points and the maker’s body-up procedure (WHS Regulation s 39)
• No Schedule 3 high risk work licence class covers working under a raised tipper body or fitting a body prop; a licence applies only to a crane or forklift truck class used to lift parts, and the dogging class or a higher rigging class where a load is slung or a plant operator is directed (Schedule 19, dogging work); use a separate SWMS for lifts
• Current driver licence for the class of truck where the truck is driven or moved
• Training in high pressure fluid injection injuries and the first aid response
• Licensed electrical worker for electrical work on equipment above extra low voltage (Electrical Safety Act 2002 ss 14(1) and 55); equipment that is part of the vehicle’s propulsion unit, or powered by it, is not electrical equipment under s 14(2), and work on hybrid or electric propulsion needs training in the maker’s procedure
• First aid equipment, facilities and trained first aiders or access to them (WHS Regulation s 42)
• General construction induction training card (white card) and site induction when the work is on a construction site

Legislation and Codes of Practice Referenced

• Work Health and Safety Act 2011 (Qld)
• Work Health and Safety Regulation 2011 (Qld)
• Work Health and Safety Regulation 2011 (Qld): ss 206 and 207 (proper use of plant, plant not in use), s 208(5) (guarding replaced before restart), s 210 (operational controls, able to be locked off), s 213 (maintenance and inspection) and s 214 (powered mobile plant, including mechanical failure of pressurised elements)
• Work Health and Safety Regulation 2011 (Qld): s 39 (training), s 42 (first aid), s 44 (personal protective equipment), s 60 (hazardous manual tasks) and s 78 (falls)
• Managing Risks of Plant in the Workplace Code of Practice 2021: section 3.7 (plant not in use: release stored energy, lower moving parts that lower under gravity, provide support) and section 4.5 (isolating energy sources, including gravity and fluids under pressure)
• Hazardous Manual Tasks Code of Practice 2021
• Managing Risks of Hazardous Chemicals in the Workplace Code of Practice 2021
• First Aid in the Workplace Code of Practice 2021
• Managing the Risk of Falls at Workplaces Code of Practice 2021
• How to Manage Work Health and Safety Risks Code of Practice 2021
• Rural Plant Code of Practice 2024: Appendix 5, section 3 (slasher attachments and case study of props, hydraulic creep and side loading on a raised slasher; an example of the risk, not a tipper rule)
• Electrical Safety Act 2002 (Qld)
• Electrical Safety Regulation 2026 (Qld): ss 10 to 13 and schedule 2 (overhead power line exclusion zones)
• Electrical Safety Code of Practice 2020 – Working near overhead and underground electric lines (distances come from the 2026 Regulation; its case C.5 describes a tip truck raising its tray into an overhead line)

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 with toe protection and non-slip soles; hard hat when working under or close to the raised body; safety glasses, and a face shield when loosening hydraulic fittings or testing
• Emergency arrangements for: person trapped under or struck by a falling body, high pressure oil injection and truck or raised body touches a power line
• 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.