Roof Painting and Coating SWMS

Suits roof restoration and painting contractors who clean by hand, repair, prime and coat metal, tile and other roofs. It covers roof inspection, power lines, edge protection, roof movement and fall arrest, surface preparation, slippery surfaces, coating chemicals, spraying and overspray, heat, and pack-up.

The fall of more than 2 metres item is ticked for you because cleaning by hand, repairing, painting and coating a roof is repair, maintenance or refurbishment of a structure (WHS Regulation s 289), and a roof edge is normally more than 2 metres above the ground. Also tick the asbestos item if the roof, eaves or flashings may contain asbestos and could be disturbed, and the energised electrical installations or services item if you work on or near overhead lines, service cables or solar wiring. This SWMS stops work on asbestos roofs; arrange that work separately.

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 Roof Painting and Coating 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 roof edges
• Falls through fragile sheets and skylights
• Suspension trauma after a fall arrest
• Slips on wet, mossy or freshly coated roofs
• Contact with overhead power lines and solar wiring
• Overspray onto people, cars and neighbours
• High-pressure paint injection from airless sprayers
• Solvent and isocyanate fumes and chemical splashes
• Asbestos cement roofing and lead in old paint
• Dust from scraping and preparing the surface
• Burns from hot roof surfaces and heat illness
• Falling tools and materials hitting people below

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
• Site induction, including the roof access, edge protection and exclusion zone arrangements
• No high risk work licence is needed for roof work or painting; a licence is needed only for a boom-type elevating work platform with a boom length of 11 m or more (Schedule 3, item 21)
• Workers on the roof are trained in the fall controls in use (edge protection, travel restraint or a fall arrest harness system) and in the rescue procedure (WHS Regulation s 80)
• Spray painters trained in the airless spray equipment, its safe pressure release and the paint products being used
• Workers the PCBU reasonably believes may be involved in asbestos removal work or asbestos-related work are trained in the identification and safe handling of asbestos and ACM (WHS Regulation s 445); everyone else stops and reports anything that may be asbestos
• Respirator fit-test and training for anyone who wears a respirator
• First aid equipment, facilities and trained first aiders (or access to them) as the work needs (WHS Regulation s 42)

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
• Spray Painting and Powder Coating Code of Practice 2021
• Managing Risks of Hazardous Chemicals in the Workplace Code of Practice 2021
• Labelling of Workplace Hazardous Chemicals Code of Practice 2021
• Preparation of Safety Data Sheets for Hazardous Chemicals Code of Practice 2021
• How to Manage and Control Asbestos in the Workplace Code of Practice 2021
• How to Manage Work Health and Safety Risks Code of Practice 2021
• Hazardous Manual Tasks Code of Practice 2021
• Managing the Work Environment and Facilities Code of Practice 2021
• Managing Noise and Preventing Hearing Loss at Work Code of Practice 2021
• First Aid in the Workplace Code of Practice 2021
• Electrical Safety Act 2002 (Qld)
• Electrical Safety Regulation 2026 (Qld): overhead electric lines, ss 10 to 13 and schedule 2
• Electrical Safety Code of Practice 2021: Managing electrical risks in the workplace

What You Get

• An editable Microsoft Word document (15 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.