Static Traffic Control Setup and Removal SWMS

Suits civil, utility, building and traffic management crews who set up, check and take down the signs and devices of a traffic guidance scheme at a static worksite on or beside a road in use. It covers loading and vehicle positioning, protection vehicles, placing devices beside live traffic, checking the finished layout, after-hours arrangements and removal in reverse order. Directing traffic with traffic controllers is covered by the separate Traffic Management SWMS.

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 Static Traffic Control Setup and Removal SWMS?

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

• Crew struck by passing vehicles while placing devices
• Work vehicles struck entering or leaving the work area
• Wrong sign order or missing devices during set-up
• Vehicles entering the work zone
• Barriers misplaced or filled wrongly
• Layout damaged or displaced during the shift
• Signs and lamps failing at an unattended site after hours
• Contact with overhead power lines
• Strains lifting barriers, bases and signs
• Reversing vehicles in the work area
• Heat, sun and fatigue
• Poor visibility at night and in rain
• Abuse from frustrated road users
• Devices left on the road after removal

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 on, in or adjacent to a road, railway, shipping lane or other traffic corridor that is in use by traffic other than pedestrians
• Is carried out in an area at a workplace in which there is any movement of powered mobile plant

Licences, Training and Competency

• General construction induction training card (white card) for construction work on or beside a road
• Working in Proximity to Traffic training (Department of Transport and Main Roads online course, Parts 1 and 2) for all workers on or next to a road, as the Traffic Management for Construction or Maintenance Work Code of Practice 2008 recommends
• Traffic Management Implement training from an approved provider for anyone who sets up, checks and removes the traffic guidance scheme (the code of practice recommends it for people who implement a traffic management plan)
• Traffic Management Design training for the person who designs or changes the traffic guidance scheme (recommended by the code of practice)
• Queensland traffic controller accreditation applies to anyone who directs traffic; directing traffic is covered by the separate Traffic Management SWMS and not by this SWMS
• Current driver licence for the class of vehicle driven, and training in the protection vehicle, attenuator and arrow board from the supplier or the manufacturer’s instructions
• High risk work licence for the class of any crane or forklift truck used to place barriers, and in the dogging class or a higher rigging class (Schedule 3) for anyone who slings barriers 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
• Site induction

Legislation and Codes of Practice Referenced

• Work Health and Safety Act 2011 (Qld)
• Work Health and Safety Regulation 2011 (Qld)
• Traffic Management for Construction or Maintenance Work Code of Practice 2008
• Manual of Uniform Traffic Control Devices Part 3 (MUTCD Part 3)
• Transport Operations (Road Use Management) Act 1995 (Qld): section 72A, official traffic signs installed in the way the MUTCD specifies
• Transport Operations (Road Use Management – Accreditation and Other Provisions) Regulation 2015 (Qld): traffic controller accreditation
• Traffic Controller Accreditation Scheme Approved Procedure (TCASAP)
• 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 the Work Environment and Facilities Code of Practice 2021
• Managing the risk of psychosocial hazards at work Code of Practice 2022
• How to Manage Work Health and Safety Risks Code of Practice 2021
• Mobile Crane Code of Practice 2024 (where a vehicle loading crane places barriers)
• 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 fatigue at work (guidance)

What You Get

• An editable Microsoft Word document (17 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.