Road Profiling SWMS

For road contractors, councils and milling crews who profile road surfaces with cold planers. It follows the job in order, from planning and checking the surface to milling, loading trucks, controlling dust, changing picks and making the milled surface safe for traffic. General road construction is covered by a separate SWMS.

The reg 291 items for a road in use (13) and powered mobile plant (14) are ticked. Tick the optional contaminated atmosphere item (11) if the pavement being milled contains crystalline silica, for example concrete or quartz aggregate.

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 Road Profiling SWMS?

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

• Contact with the rotating milling drum and picks
• Flying fragments and hot picks
• Dust that may contain respirable crystalline silica
• Noise from the drum and trucks
• Worker struck by traffic beside the work zone
• Planer and truck collisions with workers
• Hitting unmarked services and covers
• Planer overturning at edges
• Drum or conveyor starting during pick changes
• Loose millings and drop-offs for traffic

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:

• Is carried out on, in or adjacent to a road, railway, shipping lane or other traffic corridor that is in use by traffic other than pedestrians
• 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
• Training in working near traffic for everyone on or beside a road (the Working in Proximity to Traffic course is the one the Traffic Management for Construction or Maintenance Work Code of Practice 2008 names)
• Accredited traffic controllers for anyone who stops or directs traffic; set-up of the traffic control layout has its own SWMS
• Planer operator trained and assessed on the machine, drum, depth control, conveyor and water system (no high risk work licence class in Schedule 3 of the WHS Regulation covers a cold planer or milling machine)
• Driver licence of the right class for each truck and float driven on a public road
• Crystalline silica training where the assessment finds the processing high risk (WHS Regulation s 529CD), with a record kept
• Spotters briefed on signals, blind spots, exclusion zones and power line distances
• An adequate number of workers trained in first aid (WHS Regulation s 42)

Legislation and Codes of Practice Referenced

• Work Health and Safety Act 2011 (Qld)
• Work Health and Safety Regulation 2011 (Qld)
• Traffic Management for Construction or Maintenance Work Code of Practice 2008
• Transport Operations (Road Use Management – Accreditation and Other Provisions) Regulation 2015 (Qld): traffic controllers, sections 51 to 55
• 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
• Managing Noise and Preventing Hearing Loss at Work Code of Practice 2021
• Hazardous Manual Tasks Code of Practice 2021
• Managing Risks of Hazardous Chemicals in the Workplace 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): ss 10 to 13 and sch 2 (overhead exclusion zones); ss 14 and 15 (underground lines)
• Safe Work Australia model Code of Practice: Managing the risk of fatigue at work (guidance)

What You Get

• An editable Microsoft Word document (14 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.