Table Form (Flying Form) Erection SWMS

For formwork contractors and builders who use table forms (flying forms) on multi-storey slabs. It follows the job from the engineer’s layout and lift plan through assembly, crane flying, positioning, edge protection and the pre-pour check to stripping, roll-out and storage.

Falls from the slab edge and crane movement mean items 0 and 14 are ticked. Tick other items that apply, such as overhead power lines (item 10), a trench deeper than 1.5 metres for footings (item 6) or a road in use beside the building (item 13). Crane operation, concrete placement, steel fixing, scaffold erection and back-propping have their own SWMS, and standard slab, wall and column formwork is covered by the Formwork SWMS.

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

What Is Covered In Our Table Form (Flying Form) Erection SWMS?

After the standard pre-start checks, the job steps run from “Plan the lifts: table layout, lift plan and documents” to “Inspect, clean, repair and store tables”. The hazards and controls include:

• Table dropping or swinging during crane flights
• Falls from the slab edge and fly-out opening
• Rigging and lifting point failure
• Crane overturning and overhead power lines
• Objects falling to floors and streets below
• Table collapse during stripping
• Early stripping before concrete strength
• Crush injuries between tables and columns
• Strains handling props and trusses
• Wind during flying
• Release agent and concrete dust
• Noise from nailing and sawing

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 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, and site induction
• Formworkers trained in the table form system in use, its erection, flying and stripping instructions, and its emergency procedures
• Competent person for the formwork who can read the table layout drawings, inspect the tables and complete the checklists
• Engineer who designs and certifies the table form layout, lifting points, bracing and back-propping, and who signs off the larger or higher decks the Formwork Code of Practice 2016 reserves for an engineer
• High risk work licence for the class of crane used to fly the tables (Schedule 3)
• Dogging licence, or a higher rigging class, for anyone who slings a table or directs the crane operator when the load is out of the operator’s view (Schedule 3; Schedule 19, dogging work)
• Scaffolding licence of the matching class for any perimeter scaffold from which a person could fall more than 4 m (a separate scaffold SWMS applies)
• Workers trained in fall protection, the edge protection used, and the rescue plan

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
• Mobile Crane Code of Practice 2024 (where a mobile crane flies the tables)
• Tower Crane Code of Practice 2017 (where a tower crane flies the tables)
• Managing the Risk of Falls at Workplaces Code of Practice 2021
• Safe Design of Structures Code of Practice 2021
• 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 Risks of Hazardous Chemicals in the Workplace Code of Practice 2021
• Managing respirable crystalline silica dust exposure in construction and manufacturing of construction elements Code of Practice 2022 (cleaning concrete off tables)
• Managing the Work Environment and Facilities Code of Practice 2021
• How to Manage Work Health and Safety Risks Code of Practice 2021
• First Aid in the Workplace Code of Practice 2021
• Electrical Safety Act 2002 (Qld)
• Electrical Safety Regulation 2026 (Qld): overhead power line exclusion zones in schedule 2
• AS 3610 Formwork for concrete (named in the Formwork Code of Practice 2016)

What You Get

• An editable Microsoft Word document (14 A4 landscape pages). Type your business, client and job details once and they fill in on every page, with a space for your logo
• 10 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 with chin strap where working at the edge; high-visibility clothing; safety glasses
• Emergency arrangements for: dropped or swinging table, or a table or prop moving and person falling at the slab edge or hanging 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.