Roof Truss Installation SWMS

Suits carpenters, framers, truss erectors and builders who deliver, lift, stand and brace timber or steel roof trusses on houses and other low-rise buildings. It covers planning, checking the frame, delivery and storage, fall protection at the top plates, lifting, bracing, nail guns and handover. Edit the controls to match your truss layout, the truss manufacturer’s bracing details and your site.

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 Truss 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 top plates, scaffold and platforms
• Falling through stair voids, openings and between trusses
• Truss collapse from missing or early-removed bracing
• Wall frames overloaded by truss loads
• Dropped or swinging trusses during crane lifts
• Contact with overhead power lines
• Crane or truck overturning on soft ground
• Struck by delivery trucks and cranes
• Nail gun injuries and ricochet
• Tools and offcuts falling onto people below
• Hearing loss and eye injury from nail guns
• Strains from handling long trusses by hand
• Wind on the open roof frame

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, and competency in erecting and bracing roof trusses to the truss manufacturer’s documents; new workers work under the supervision of an experienced truss erector
• High risk work licence for the class of crane used to lift trusses (for example the vehicle loading crane class for a crane of 10 metre tonnes or more, or the slewing or non-slewing mobile crane class that matches the crane)
• High risk work licence in the dogging class, or a higher rigging class (Schedule 3), for anyone who slings a truss 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); a vehicle loading crane licence for 10 metre tonnes or more also covers slinging by its operator
• High risk work licence for a boom-type elevating work platform where the boom length is 11 m or more; trained and familiarised operators for scissor lifts and smaller elevating work platforms
• Nail gun training for every operator, covering the gun’s operation, its manual and PPE
• A nominated competent person in the erection team to oversee the fall protection, the bracing and the pre-lift check of the wall frames
• Training in the fall arrest system and in the rescue procedure for workers who use a harness system or may take part in a rescue

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
• Hazardous Manual Tasks Code of Practice 2021
• Managing Risks of Plant in the Workplace Code of Practice 2021
• Mobile Crane Code of Practice 2024 (where a mobile crane or vehicle loading crane lifts trusses)
• Steel Construction Advisory Standard 2004 (where steel trusses are erected)
• Managing Noise and Preventing Hearing Loss at Work 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 in schedule 2
• Electrical Safety Code of Practice 2020 – Working near overhead and underground electric lines (distances come from the 2026 Regulation)
• Safe Work Australia model Code of Practice: Managing the risk of falls in housing construction (guidance)
• AS 4440-2004 Installation of nailplated timber roof trusses (as named in the Safe Work Australia model housing falls code)

What You Get

• An editable Microsoft Word document (18 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.