Swimming Pool Construction WHS Manual

This is the swimming pool construction edition of the WHS Manual. It has the same chapters as the general WHS Manual, written for businesses that build residential in-ground concrete, fibreglass and vinyl liner pools and spas, so you only need one of the two. It follows a pool job from the warning sign on the road frontage and the services search through the dig, steel, shell, finishes and barrier to the certificate that must be held before the pool is filled, and points to the SWMS, permits, checklists and registers in our range that match. The cover page is ready for your business name and logo. Part A is the management system, in 23 numbered chapters. Part B holds the full text of 80 policies and procedures (41 that apply to every business and 39 for swimming pool construction work), each on its own pages in the same editable file, so you can edit, issue and sign off each one without buying it separately.

What Is Included In Our Swimming Pool Construction WHS Manual?

• WHS policy statement with an approval sign-off
• Duties and roles for a pool builder, including who is principal contractor and why every pool job gets a SWMS
• Why every pool dig is treated as a trench, with the 1.5 m rules, benching, shoring and the zone of influence
• Underground services and overhead power lines at the dig, the crane and the pump
• Steel fixing, shotcrete, concrete pumping and formwork, with impalement and hose controls
• Fibreglass shell crane lifts: licences, dogging, ground assessment and the Crane Lift Plan
• Silica from cutting tiles, pavers and concrete and from shotcrete, and asbestos in old fill and fibro
• Cement, acid and pool chemicals, with the rule that acid and chlorine are never mixed
• Electrical, gas and plumbing trades on a wet site
• The warning sign, the pool safety barrier figures and the certifier’s certificate before the pool is filled
• Incident notification, emergency response for a collapse, a hit cable or a flooded dig, and return to work
• Concrete washout and wastewater rules, record-keeping periods cited to the law, definitions and the laws and codes that apply
• Part B: the full text of 80 policies and procedures, from risk, hazard and incident management to manual handling, hazardous substances, emergencies and return to work, plus 39 for swimming pool construction work

Legislation and Codes of Practice Referenced

• Work Health and Safety Act 2011 (Qld): the meaning of reasonably practicable (s 18), our primary duty of care (s 19), duties of persons who manage or control a workplace (s 20), more than one duty holder (s 16), duties about plant (s 21), codes of practice (ss 26A, 274 and 275), duties of officers (s 27), duties of workers and others (ss 28 and 29), notifiable incidents (ss 35 to 39), consultation (ss 46 to 49), health and safety representatives and committees (pt 5), the right to cease unsafe work (ss 84 to 86), discriminatory conduct (ss 104 to 106) and no levy on workers (s 273)
• Building Act 1975 (Qld): the pool safety law, including the regulated pool and its barriers (s 231B), the pool safety standard (s 231D), the owner’s duty to keep the barrier in good condition (s 232), the warning sign on the land during construction (s 233), the complying-pool certificate before the pool is filled to a depth of 300 mm (s 234) and the duty not to interfere with a barrier so that the pool becomes non-compliant (s 245U)
• Queensland Building and Construction Commission Act 1991 (Qld): licensing of building work, the written contract and home warranty insurance for domestic building work, and the swimming pool classes of licence
• Electrical Safety Act 2002 (Qld): serious electrical incidents and dangerous electrical events (ss 11 and 12), what electrical equipment, water equipment and an electrical installation are (ss 14, 14A and 15), what electrical work is, including the exclusions for ducts and conduits and for fixing equipment in place (s 18), the primary duty of care (s 30), codes of practice (ss 44 and 45) and electrical work and contractor licences (ss 55 and 56)
• Plumbing and Drainage Act 2018 (Qld): licensed plumbing and drainage work for the water, sewer and stormwater connections of a pool, which are made by a licensed plumber and drainer
• Petroleum and Gas (Production and Safety) Act 2004 (Qld): licensed gas work, which includes the connection of a gas pool heater by a licensed gasfitter
• Ozone Protection and Synthetic Greenhouse Gas Management Act 1989 (Cth): the refrigerant handling licence needed for work on a pool heat pump that uses a fluorocarbon refrigerant
• Environmental Protection Act 1994 (Qld): the general environmental duty (s 319), notification of environmental harm (ss 320B to 320D) and the unlawful deposit of a prescribed water contaminant in waters, a roadside gutter or stormwater drainage (s 440ZG)
• Waste Reduction and Recycling Act 2011 (Qld): the disposal of waste, including asbestos waste
• Workers’ Compensation and Rehabilitation Act 2003 (Qld): claims and the employer’s injury report (ss 131 and 133), rehabilitation and return to work (ss 226 to 232) and the protection of injured workers (ss 232A to 232G)
• Heavy Vehicle National Law (Queensland): loading requirements for heavy vehicles (s 111), the chain of responsibility duty (s 26C), driver fatigue (s 228) and driver work and rest records
• Transport Operations (Road Use Management) Act 1995 (Qld): driving under the influence of liquor or a drug (s 79)
• Labour Hire Licensing Act 2017 (Qld): the licence a labour hire provider must hold
• Penalties and Sentences Act 1992 (Qld): the value of a penalty unit (s 5(1)(d))
• Work Health and Safety Regulation 2011 (Qld): managing risks (ss 32 to 38), information, training and instruction (s 39), facilities, first aid, emergency plans and personal protective equipment (ss 40 to 47), remote or isolated work (s 48), airborne contaminants and hazardous atmospheres (ss 49 to 53), falling objects (ss 54 and 55), noise (ss 56 to 59), hazardous manual tasks (s 60), falls (ss 78 to 80), high risk work licences (ss 81 to 85 and sch 3), plant (chapter 5, including ss 203 to 225, and sch 5), construction work (chapter 6, including high risk construction work in s 291, the SWMS rules in ss 299 to 303, underground essential services information in s 304, excavation in ss 305 and 306, falls in ss 306A to 306M and public protection in ss 315 to 315M), hazardous chemicals (chapter 7), asbestos (chapter 8), crystalline silica (chapter 8A), and the dictionary (sch 19)
• Work Health and Safety (Codes of Practice) Notice 2022 (Qld): the list of approved codes of practice
• Electrical Safety Regulation 2026 (Qld): working near overhead and underground electric lines (ss 11 to 15 and sch 2), safety switches for service and office work (s 139), electrical equipment, including safety switches, for construction work (s 140), water equipment as prescribed electrical equipment (s 302) and notifying serious electrical incidents and dangerous electrical events (ss 292 and 296)
• Queensland Building and Construction Commission Regulation 2018 (Qld): the swimming pool construction, installation and maintenance classes of licence (sch 2 pt 55) and the value below which work is not building work (sch 1 s 2)
• Queensland Development Code part MP 3.4 Swimming pool barriers: the pool safety standard that the Building Act 1975 s 231D names
• Workers’ Compensation and Rehabilitation Regulation 2025 (Qld): the criteria for appointing a return to work coordinator (s 149)
• Transport Operations (Road Use Management – Road Rules) Regulation 2009 (Qld): removing a load that has fallen from a vehicle (s 293)
• Transport Operations (Road Use Management – Accreditation and Other Provisions) Regulation 2015 (Qld): traffic controller accreditation (ss 54 and 55)
• 23 Queensland approved codes of practice, named in full in the manual

What You Get

• An editable Microsoft Word manual (about 550 pages), A4 portrait, with a cover page ready for your business name and logo, a contents list, Part A (23 numbered chapters) and Part B (80 policies and procedures)
• Business details and document control typed once and filled in on every page, plus a space for your logo
• A WHS policy statement with an approval sign-off
• Roles, procedures, a risk matrix, record-keeping periods, definitions and references
• Part B: the full text of 80 policies and procedures, each starting on a new page
• Links by name to the matching SWMS, forms and registers in our range

Review it and adjust it to suit your business, your sites and the way your team works, and talk it through with your workers. If you have any trouble downloading this template, you can contact us at any time. Please make sure you read our Disclaimer before downloading.