Steel Shed and Garage Erection SWMS

For shed and garage erectors and builders who pour slabs, lift and brace steel frames, fit purlins and roof and wall sheeting, and hang doors. It follows the job from the kit plans and site check to slab, anchors, frame lifts, sheeting and handover.

Erecting a shed 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: powered mobile plant when a crane, forklift or telehandler works in the area, energised electrical installations or services, and a trench or shaft deeper than 1.5 metres.

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

What Is Covered In Our Steel Shed and Garage Erection SWMS?

After the standard pre-start checks, the job steps run from “Plan the job and check the site and the kit plans” to “Pack up, check fixings and hand over”. The hazards and controls include:

• Frame collapse before bracing is complete
• Falls from eaves, frames and roof
• Falling through unfixed or translucent sheets
• Crane or telehandler lifts and swinging loads
• Wind catching frames and sheets
• Contact with overhead power lines
• Striking underground services
• Trench and footing hole collapse
• Exposed reinforcing steel and wet concrete
• Silica dust from drilling concrete
• Sharp sheet edges and cutting
• Noise, heat and sun exposure

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
• Erection crew trained in the shed system, its bracing sequence and its fixings (manufacturer’s erection manual or installer training where available)
• High risk work licence for the class of any mobile crane, any vehicle loading crane with a capacity of 10 metre tonnes or more, or any forklift truck (other than a pedestrian-operated or pallet truck) used (WHS Regulation Schedule 3); no Schedule 3 licence applies to telehandlers in general or to scissor lifts, but operators must be trained and competent
• High risk work licence in the dogging class or a higher rigging class (Schedule 3) for anyone doing dogging work, meaning slinging a load or directing a plant operator when the load is out of the operator’s view (Schedule 19)
• Boom-type elevating work platform licence where the boom length is 11 m or more (Schedule 3)
• Scaffolding licence of the right class for scaffolding work on a scaffold from which a person or object could fall more than 4 m (Schedule 3, Schedule 19; erected under a separate scaffolding SWMS)
• Licensed electrician for any isolation, relocation or connection of electrical work
• Training in the fall protection used and in the rescue plan
• 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)
• Steel Construction Advisory Standard 2004
• Managing the Risk of Falls at Workplaces Code of Practice 2021
• Mobile Crane Code of Practice 2024
• Managing Risks of Plant in the Workplace Code of Practice 2021
• Scaffolding Code of Practice 2021 (where scaffold is used for access)
• Excavation Work Code of Practice 2021 (footing holes)
• Hazardous Manual Tasks Code of Practice 2021
• Managing Noise and Preventing Hearing Loss at Work Code of Practice 2021
• Managing respirable crystalline silica dust exposure in construction and manufacturing of construction elements Code of Practice 2022
• Managing Risks of Hazardous Chemicals 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)

What You Get

• An editable Microsoft Word document (17 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 good grip; cut-resistant gloves for handling sheet metal, steel members and door sections; safety glasses or face shield for cutting and drilling
• Emergency arrangements for: fall from height, frame collapse or person trapped 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.