Skid Steer Loader SWMS

Suits civil, landscaping, demolition and building contractors who operate skid steer loaders and compact track loaders with buckets, pallet forks and powered attachments. It follows the job from the pre-start check, work area set-up and loading the machine on a trailer through getting on and off, travel, lifting and tipping loads, changing attachments, dust and noise, to parking and shut-down. It does not cover front-end loaders, which have their own SWMS, or lifting suspended loads.

Using a skid steer loader on construction work is high risk construction work because powered mobile plant moves in the work area (WHS Regulation ss 289 and 291(o)), so that item is ticked and a SWMS is required before it starts (s 299); away from construction work this document works as a written safe work procedure or task risk assessment. You can also tick energised electrical services, a road in use, demolition of a load-bearing element, or the contaminated atmosphere item if breaking, planing or sweeping creates silica dust, as the Queensland silica code advises.

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 skid steer loader SWMS?

The job steps run in the order the work is done, from pre-start checks to finishing up. The hazards and controls include:

• Machine rollover on slopes, soft ground and edges
• Operator crushed by lift arms or attachments
• Pedestrians and plant struck by the machine
• Attachment falling off the quick hitch
• Hydraulic oil injected into the skin
• Contact with overhead power lines
• Striking underground services
• Machine rolling off ramps when loading onto a trailer
• Overloaded bucket or pallet forks tipping the machine
• Flying debris from breakers, planers and mulchers
• Silica dust, diesel fumes and noise
• Fire during refuelling
• Unattended machine rolling away

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

• Verification of competency for the skid steer or compact track loader model and each attachment used (Schedule 3 of the WHS Regulation has no high risk work licence class for skid steer loaders or compact track loaders)
• General construction induction training card (white card) for construction work
• Site induction
• Documented training for each operator on the machine’s quick hitch and the attachment change procedure
• Spotters trained in the site’s hand signals or radio system
• Trained person to operate the cable and pipe locator and mark underground services
• Crystalline silica training (VET accredited course or training approved by the regulator) for workers where the dust assessment finds the processing high risk
• First aid equipment, facilities and an adequate number of trained first aiders (or access to them), as the first aid assessment shows the work needs (WHS Regulation s 42; First Aid in the Workplace Code of Practice 2021)

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
• Excavation Work Code of Practice 2021
• Mobile Crane Code of Practice 2024 (earthmoving plant used as a crane, and quick hitches)
• Demolition Work Code of Practice 2021 (breakers and plant on suspended floors)
• Managing respirable crystalline silica dust exposure in construction and manufacturing of construction elements Code of Practice 2022
• Managing Noise and Preventing Hearing Loss at Work Code of Practice 2021
• Hazardous Manual Tasks Code of Practice 2021 (whole-body vibration)
• Managing Risks of Hazardous Chemicals in the Workplace Code of Practice 2021
• Managing the Work Environment and Facilities 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 and underground electric lines, exclusion zones in schedule 2
• Electrical Safety Code of Practice 2020 – Working near overhead and underground electric lines
• Safe Work Australia model Code of Practice: Managing the risk of fatigue at work (guidance)
• AS/NZS 1716:2012 (Respiratory protective devices) and AS/NZS 1715:2009 (Selection, use and maintenance of respiratory protective equipment), as named in WHS Regulation s 529B

What you get

• An editable Microsoft Word document (20 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.