Skylight Installation SWMS

For roofers, builders and carpenters who fit skylights and roof windows into tiled, metal or membrane roofs. It follows the job from inspecting the roof and ceiling through cutting and framing the opening, lifting and fixing the unit and flashing it, to lining the shaft and handover.

Skylight installation is high risk construction work when a person could fall more than 2 metres (WHS Regulation s 291(a)), so the falls item is ticked. Tick the others that apply: asbestos if old sheeting, eaves or linings could be disturbed, energised electrical installations or services when solar or roof wiring is near the work, and powered mobile plant if a hoist or crane lifts the unit.

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

What Is Covered In Our Skylight Installation SWMS?

After the standard pre-start checks, the job steps run from “Plan the job, inspect the roof and ceiling and choose the position” to “Line the light shaft, test, clean up and hand over”. The hazards and controls include:

• Falls from roof edges and ladders
• Falls through the new opening
• Falls through fragile sheeting and old skylights
• Cutting the roof opening safely
• Cutting structural roof members
• Silica dust from cutting tiles and cement
• Falling through the ceiling lining
• Heat and fibres in roof spaces
• Asbestos in old roofing and eaves
• Contact with overhead power lines
• Water entering the open roof
• Heavy and fragile glazing

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
• Installers trained in the skylight or roof window system, its flashing kit and fixings (manufacturer’s installer training where available)
• Training in the fall protection used and in the rescue plan
• Boom-type elevating work platform licence where the boom length is 11 m or more (Schedule 3)
• Scaffolding licence for scaffold where a person or object could fall more than 4 m (erected under a separate scaffolding SWMS)
• Licensed electrician for any electrical isolation, wiring or connection of vents, blinds and sensors (Electrical Safety Act 2002 s 55)
• First aid equipment, facilities and trained first aiders (or access to them) as the work needs (WHS Regulation s 42)

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)
• 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
• Managing respirable crystalline silica dust exposure in construction and manufacturing of construction elements Code of Practice 2022
• How to Manage and Control Asbestos in the Workplace 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)
• WorkSafe Queensland guidance: Managing the risk of falls while working on roofs in housing construction (guidance, not a code)
• Electrical Safety Regulation 2026 (Qld): ss 31 to 36 (work in the roof space of a building)

What You Get

• An editable Microsoft Word document (15 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: safety boots with good grip; safety glasses or face shield for cutting; cut-resistant gloves for handling metal flashings and glazing; hearing protection where noise cannot be controlled at the source
• Emergency arrangements for: fall from height or through the roof and contact with a power line
• 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.