Roof Safety Mesh Installation SWMS

For roof carpenters, roofing contractors and builders who run out, tension, fix and inspect safety mesh over trusses, rafters or purlins before the sheeting goes on. It covers fall protection for the installers, working on open framing, and what the mesh does and does not protect against.

Roof work is high risk construction work when a person could fall more than 2 metres (WHS Regulation s 291), so that is the item ticked; you can also tick energised electrical installations if overhead lines are near the roof and powered mobile plant if a crane or forklift lifts the mesh.

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 Safety Mesh 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:

• Falls from the roof edge while the roof has no sheeting
• Falling between trusses, purlins and rafters
• Roof framing moving or collapsing under workers
• Mesh springing back or uncoiling
• Cuts from wire ends and cut mesh
• Mesh under-fixed or with too little overlap
• Gaps and holes left open in the mesh
• Mesh used as fall protection before it is inspected
• Contact with overhead power lines
• Being struck by cranes, forklifts and mesh rolls
• Wind catching loose mesh
• Heat illness and sun exposure
• Falling offcuts and tools

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 site’s roof access and rescue rules
• Roof safety mesh installed by competent people, trained and experienced in fitting mesh to the supplier’s instructions
• Training in the fall protection method used (scaffold, elevating work platform, edge protection or fall arrest) and in the site rescue plan, for everyone who uses it or may help in a rescue
• Engineer or competent person to approve fall arrest anchor points before first use, and a competent person to inspect fall arrest systems at least every 6 months
• Competent person to inspect the mesh before sheeting starts and record the result
• High risk work licence for the class of any crane, forklift truck or vehicle loading crane (10 metre tonnes or more) used to lift mesh, the dogging class or a higher rigging class (Schedule 3) for anyone who slings the load or directs a plant operator in the movement of a load when the load is out of the operator’s view (Schedule 19, dogging work), and the boom-type elevating work platform class for a boom of 11 m or more
• High risk work licence for the scaffolding class that matches any scaffold used, for anyone erecting, altering or dismantling a scaffold from which a person or object could fall more than 4 m (erected under a separate Scaffolding SWMS)
• Trained first aider on site

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 (where scaffold is used for access or edge protection)
• Managing Risks of Plant in the Workplace Code of Practice 2021
• Mobile Crane Code of Practice 2024 (where a crane lifts mesh)
• Hazardous Manual Tasks Code of Practice 2021
• Managing the Work Environment and Facilities 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): overhead power line exclusion zones
• Electrical Safety Code of Practice 2020 – Working near overhead and underground electric lines (distances come from the 2026 Regulation)
• AS/NZS 4389 Roof safety mesh (cited in the Falls Code)
• AS/NZS 4994.2 Temporary edge protection – Roof edge protection – Installation and dismantling (cited in the Falls Code)
• WorkSafe Queensland guidance: Managing the risk of falls while working on roofs in housing construction (guidance, not a code)
• Safe Work Australia model Code of Practice: Elevating work platforms (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.