Roof Truss and Wall Frame Prefabrication SWMS

Suits truss and frame fabricators, joinery and carpentry workshops and building suppliers who cut, assemble, press and stack roof trusses and wall frames. It follows the job in order: design documents and layout, unloading and storing timber, cutting, assembly, nail plate pressing, nail guns, lifting and stacking finished product, dust and fire, loading trucks, and cleaning, isolation and shut-down. Installing trusses and erecting frames on site need their own SWMS.

Prefabricating trusses and wall frames in a factory or yard is not construction work unless the place is specifically established for the construction work (WHS Regulation s 289), so no item is pre-ticked and a SWMS is required by law only for high risk construction work (s 299). If the yard is set up for a construction project, tick the reg 291 items that apply, such as movement of powered mobile plant in the area; otherwise the document works as a written safe work procedure and task risk assessment.

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

What Is Covered In Our Roof Truss and Wall Frame Prefabrication SWMS?

After the standard pre-start checks, the job steps run from “Plan the work and check the design documents” to “Clean, maintain and shut down the equipment”. The hazards and controls include:

• Contact with saw blades and kickback
• Hands crushed in nail plate presses
• Nail gun discharge and ricochet
• Cuts from nail plate teeth and steel edges
• Timber packs and stacks falling or collapsing
• Forklifts and trucks striking pedestrians
• Swinging or dropped trusses and frames
• Falls from stacks and truck trays
• Strains from heavy and long members
• Noise, sawdust and combustible dust
• Treated timber and lubricant contact
• Hydraulic and air stored energy during maintenance
• Hose whip and compressed air
• Unrestrained loads leaving the yard

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

• Training and verified competency on each saw, the nail plate press, nail gun type and forklift or crane the worker uses (WHS Regulation s 39)
• Carpentry, joinery or truss and frame fabrication experience for the supervisor and the press operator
• High risk work licence for the forklift truck class for forklift operators (Schedule 3); a bridge and gantry crane licence only where the crane is controlled from a permanent cabin or control station on the crane, or is remotely controlled with more than 3 powered operations; the dogging class or a higher rigging class for anyone who slings a load or directs a plant operator when the load is out of the operator’s view (Schedule 19, dogging work)
• Competent person to inspect and maintain the nail plate press, its guards and hydraulics, and the compressor and air system (WHS Regulation s 213)
• Truss and frame designs prepared or approved by the designer or engineer, with the designer available for queries
• First aid equipment, facilities and trained first aiders or access to them (WHS Regulation s 42)
• General construction induction training card (white card) where the work is construction work, for example in a yard set up specifically for one construction project (WHS Regulation s 289(2)(c))
• Site induction

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 to 215 (plant: proper use, plant not in use, guarding, operational controls, emergency stops, maintenance and inspection, powered mobile plant)
• Work Health and Safety Regulation 2011 (Qld): s 39 (training), ss 40 and 41 (general facilities, heat and drinking water), s 42 (first aid), s 44 (personal protective equipment), ss 52 and 53 (ignition sources, flammable and combustible substances), ss 56 to 58 (noise), s 60 (hazardous manual tasks) and s 78 (falls)
• Work Health and Safety Regulation 2011 (Qld): s 289 (meaning of construction work, including prefabrication at a place specifically established for the construction work) and s 299 (safe work method statements)
• Managing Risks of Plant in the Workplace Code of Practice 2021
• Hazardous Manual Tasks Code of Practice 2021
• Managing Noise and Preventing Hearing Loss at Work 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
• Electrical Safety Act 2002 (Qld)
• Electrical Safety Code of Practice 2021 – Managing electrical risks in the workplace
• Heavy Vehicle National Law (Queensland), applied by the Heavy Vehicle National Law Act 2012 (Qld): s 6 (heavy vehicle means a vehicle with a GVM or ATM of more than 4.5 t), s 26C (primary duty of each party in the chain of responsibility), s 96 (compliance with mass requirements), s 110 (national regulations may prescribe loading requirements), s 111 (compliance with the loading requirements) and s 228 (duty of driver to avoid driving while fatigued or unfit to drive)
• National Load Restraint Guide (guidance only, not law)
• WorkSafe Queensland guidance: Nail guns (guidance, not a code)

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: impact-rated safety glasses or goggles at saws, the press and nail guns; hearing protection (earmuffs or earplugs) fitted to the wearer, as the last control where noise is still high
• Emergency arrangements for: deep cut or amputation, person crushed or trapped in the press and fire in the shop
• 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.