Stone Cladding Installation SWMS

Suits stonemasons, cladding installers and builders fixing natural stone cladding and veneer to buildings. It follows the work from checking the substrate and fixings, through access, hoisting, cutting, fixing and cleaning, to pack-up. It does not cover fibre cement, timber, metal or composite cladding, which has its own Wall Cladding Installation SWMS.

Two items are pre-ticked: a fall of more than 2 metres (scaffold, EWP and open edges) and work in a contaminated atmosphere (silica dust from cutting natural stone, which is part of this task). Untick the fall item if no one can fall that far. Tick any other item that applies, such as powered mobile plant moving in the area or energised electrical services. This SWMS is for natural stone only; engineered stone work is prohibited (WHS Regulation s 529D).

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

What Is Covered In Our Stone Cladding Installation SWMS?

After the standard pre-start checks, the job steps run from “Plan the work and check the substrate and fixings” to “Housekeeping, waste removal and pack-up”. The hazards and controls include:

• Stone pulling away from a poor substrate or fixing
• Falls from scaffold, EWP or open edges
• Dropped stone and tools on people below
• Heavy stone manual handling
• Hoisting and crane lifting of panels
• Silica dust from cutting natural stone
• Noise from saws and grinders
• Cement and adhesive skin burns
• Acid cleaner and sealer splashes
• Suction lifter failure
• Slurry slips and wet leads
• Dust left by dry sweeping

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
• Is carried out in an area that may have a contaminated or flammable atmosphere

Licences, Training and Competency

• General construction induction training card (white card)
• High risk work licence for the scaffolding class that matches the access scaffold, for the scaffolder erecting, altering or dismantling it, where a person could fall more than 4 m (Sch 19)
• High risk work licence for dogging (or a higher rigging class) for the person who slings loads, or directs the crane operator when the load is out of the operator’s view
• High risk work licence for the class of crane, hoist or forklift truck used, a high risk work licence for any boom-type EWP with a boom length of 11 m or more (Sch 3), and training for each EWP operator
• Crystalline silica training for workers where the stone processing is high risk (s 529CD)
• Site induction

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
• Managing respirable crystalline silica dust exposure in construction and manufacturing of construction elements Code of Practice 2022
• Hazardous Manual Tasks Code of Practice 2021
• Managing Risks of Hazardous Chemicals in the Workplace Code of Practice 2021
• Managing Noise and Preventing Hearing Loss at Work Code of Practice 2021
• Managing Risks of Plant in the Workplace Code of Practice 2021
• Mobile Crane Code of Practice 2024 (where a mobile crane lifts the stone)
• Safe Design of Structures Code of Practice 2021
• Safe Work Australia model Code of Practice: Elevating work platforms (guidance)

What You Get

• An editable Microsoft Word document (13 A4 landscape pages). Type your business, client and job details once and they fill in on every page, with a space for your logo
• 9 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; hard hat and safety glasses; cut-resistant and alkali-resistant gloves; respirator suited to silica dust (fit-tested) when cutting or drilling
• Emergency arrangements for: fall or dropped stone and suspended worker in a harness
• 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.