Safe Operation of Forklift SWMS

For warehouses, builders, manufacturers and construction crews that use forklifts to move pallets and materials. It follows the work from the pre-start check and refuelling or charging through travel, lifting and loading vehicles to parking, and uses the Queensland forklift licence classes.

Forklift work in a warehouse or factory is not construction work; a SWMS is legally required when forklift work is part of high risk construction work, such as movement of powered mobile plant on a construction site (WHS Regulation s 299), and otherwise the document works as a written safe work procedure or task risk assessment.

New to SWMS? Read What is a safe work method statement?

What is covered in our safe operation of forklift SWMS?

After the standard pre-start checks, the job steps run from “Pre-start forklift check” to “Park and shut down”. The hazards and controls include:

• Forklift striking pedestrians and other plant
• Forklift tip-over on slopes, rough ground and tight turns
• Overloaded or unstable loads falling
• Fire or explosion from fuel, LPG and battery charging
• Mast or load striking racking or overhead power lines
• Roll-off or crushing when loading vehicles and containers
• People lifted or carried on the forks
• Falls from dock edges and trailers
• Unattended forklift rolling away or misused
• Faulty brakes, steering, hydraulics and chains
• Manual handling strains from hand loading pallets

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 in an area at a workplace in which there is any movement of powered mobile plant

Licences, training and competency

• High risk work licence for the forklift truck class (a powered industrial truck whose forks can rise 900 mm or more; pedestrian-operated and pallet trucks are not covered), or the order-picking forklift truck class for order pickers
• Trainee operators enrolled in a licence course work only under the supervision of a licence holder
• Verification of competency for the forklift model and attachments used
• General construction induction training card (white card) when working on a construction site
• Site induction, including the traffic management plan, walkways and speed limits

Legislation and codes of practice referenced

• Work Health and Safety Act 2011 (Qld)
• Work Health and Safety Regulation 2011 (Qld)
• Managing Risks of Plant in the Workplace 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 Risk of Falls at Workplaces Code of Practice 2021
• Managing Noise and Preventing Hearing Loss at Work Code of Practice 2021
• Traffic Management for Construction or Maintenance Work Code of Practice 2008 (if the forklift works on or next to a road)
• 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)

What you get

• An editable Microsoft Word document (12 pages), laid out on A4 landscape pages. Type your business, client and job details once and they fill in on every page, with a space for your logo
• 8 job steps for this work, each with its hazards, controls, initial and residual risk scores and the person responsible
• PPE listed for this job: safety boots; high-visibility clothing; safety glasses and gloves when handling fuel, LPG cylinders or batteries; hearing protection in noisy areas
• Emergency arrangements for: forklift tip-over, LPG leak and person struck or crushed
• 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.

Checked against the Queensland laws and codes of practice listed above. Last reviewed November 2026.