Steel Fixing SWMS

For steel fixers, concreters and builders who cut, bend, place and tie reinforcing steel for footings, slabs and walls. It follows the work from planning, power line checks and delivery through cutting, bending, placing, tying, bar-end protection and work at height to pre-pour handover and clean-up. It does not cover the concrete pour, which has its own SWMS.

Steel fixing is high risk construction work when a person could fall more than 2 metres (WHS Regulation s 291(a)), for example at slab edges, formwork decks, walls and columns, so tick that item for elevated work. Where all the work is at ground level, such as footings and slabs on the ground, a SWMS may not be legally required (s 299) and this document works as a written safe work procedure or task risk assessment. You can also tick powered mobile plant or energised electrical installations when cranes, trucks or overhead lines are involved.

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

What is covered in our steel fixing SWMS?

After the standard pre-start checks, the job steps run from “Plan the job and set up the work area” to “Clean up, remove waste and pack up”. The hazards and controls include:

• Impalement on protruding and vertical bars
• Falls from slab edges, walls and formwork decks
• Falls onto exposed starter bars
• Cuts from bar ends, tie wire and cutters
• Flying fragments and sparks from cutting and grinding
• Hands caught in bar bending machines
• Manual handling strains from heavy bars and mesh
• Cages, bundles and mesh falling during crane lifts
• Contact with overhead power lines
• Free-standing wall and column steel toppling
• Hearing damage from cutting and grinding
• Hands caught in powered tying tools
• Trips and falls over bars, mesh and chairs
• Heat illness and sunburn from outdoor work

High risk construction work

None of the high risk construction work items (WHS Regulation 2011 (Qld) s 291) are pre-ticked, because this job is not high risk construction work by itself. Tick any that apply on your site.

Licences, training and competency

• General construction induction training card (white card) for construction work
• No high risk work licence class in Schedule 3 covers fixing reinforcing steel; steel fixers are trained and assessed as competent in the cutting, bending, placing and tying methods and the tools they use
• High risk work licence in the dogging class, or a higher rigging class (Schedule 3), for anyone who slings bundles, mesh or cages 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); an operator licensed for a vehicle loading crane of 10 metre tonnes or more (item 13) may sling the loads that crane moves
• High risk work licence for the class of any crane, vehicle loading crane (10 metre tonnes or more) or forklift truck used to unload or place steel, where Schedule 3 has a class for that machine
• High risk work licence for the matching scaffolding class (fall of more than 4 m) or the boom-type elevating work platform class (boom length 11 m or more) for anyone who erects a scaffold or operates an EWP used to reach the steel
• Operators trained on the bar bending machine, bar cutter, angle grinder and battery tying tool in line with the manufacturer’s instructions
• Competent person (supervisor or leading hand) to check the steel against the drawings and inspect cages, bar-end protection, edge protection and walkways before handover for the pour
• Spotter or safety observer briefed on hand signals, exclusion zones and the power line distances
• Site induction and daily pre-start meeting

Legislation and codes of practice referenced

• Work Health and Safety Act 2011 (Qld)
• Work Health and Safety Regulation 2011 (Qld)
• Formwork Code of Practice 2016
• 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 crane lifts steel or reinforcement cages)
• Excavation Work Code of Practice 2021 (footings and trenches)
• Managing Noise and Preventing Hearing Loss at Work Code of Practice 2021
• Managing the Work Environment and Facilities Code of Practice 2021 (outdoor work, heat and UV)
• 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 electric line exclusion zones in schedule 2, and electrical equipment on construction sites (s 140)
• Electrical Safety Code of Practice 2020 – Working near overhead and underground electric lines (distances come from the 2026 Regulation)
• AS/NZS 3012 Electrical installations – Construction and demolition sites (named in Electrical Safety Regulation 2026 s 140)

What you get

• An editable Microsoft Word document (20 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
• 11 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 toe protection and a puncture-resistant sole; cut-resistant gloves suited to handling bars, mesh and tie wire; safety glasses with side shields; face shield when cutting or grinding
• Emergency arrangements for: impalement on a bar, person struck by or trapped under steel or a cage and contact with an overhead 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.

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