Temporary Panel Brace Installation and Removal SWMS

Suits panel erectors, concrete contractors and builders who fit temporary braces to tilt-up and precast panels, drill and set the floor anchors, adjust braces at height and remove them after engineer sign-off. It does not cover lifting and setting the panels or crane operation, which are covered by separate SWMS.

Work involving tilt-up or precast concrete is high risk construction work under WHS Regulation s 291(m), so that item is ticked, together with powered mobile plant (item o) and a fall of more than 2 metres (item a) because braces are fixed and removed at height. Tick the other items the job involves, such as energised electrical installations or overhead lines.

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

What Is Covered In Our Temporary Panel Brace Installation and Removal SWMS?

After the standard pre-start checks, the job steps run from “Check the design, drawings and panel status” to “Make good anchor holes and pack up”. The hazards and controls include:

• Panel collapse from wrong, missing or removed braces
• Brace or anchor failure under wind load
• Plant striking installed braces
• Falls from EWPs and platforms when fixing braces
• Silica dust from drilling floor anchors
• Drilling into reinforcement, tendons or services
• Heavy braces causing strains and crush injuries
• Contact with overhead power lines
• Removing braces before the structure is connected
• Dropped tools and braces
• Hammer drill noise
• Wind loads on braced panels

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
• Involves tilt-up or precast concrete
• 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
• Panel erection crew who fit braces while the crane supports a panel: high risk work licence in the intermediate rigging class for tilt slabs (Schedule 3 item 6(d)) or the basic rigging class for precast concrete members (item 5(2)(c)); the approved code says the crew hold intermediate or advanced rigging unless they are supervised trainees
• Anyone who slings loads or directs the crane operator when the load is out of view holds a dogging licence or a higher rigging class (Schedule 19, dogging work)
• Boom-type elevating work platform with a boom length of 11 m or more: operator holds the high risk work licence (Schedule 3 item 21); smaller EWPs have no licence class, so operators are trained and familiarised on the model
• Professional engineer with suitable experience to certify the panel bracing, brace anchors and deadmen; a competent person to verify the work on site and sign off before braces are removed
• Workers who drill concrete in a way that is high risk crystalline silica processing receive crystalline silica training, with a record kept (WHS Regulation s 529CD)
• Spotter or safety observer briefed on signals, the exclusion zone and the overhead line distances
• 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)
• Tilt-up and Pre-cast Construction Industry Code of Practice 2003
• Mobile Crane Code of Practice 2024 (when a crane is still supporting the panel)
• Managing the Risk of Falls at Workplaces Code of Practice 2021
• Managing Risks of Plant in the Workplace Code of Practice 2021
• Hazardous Manual Tasks Code of Practice 2021
• Managing respirable crystalline silica dust exposure in construction and manufacturing of construction elements Code of Practice 2022
• Managing Noise and Preventing Hearing Loss at Work Code of Practice 2021
• 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 electric line exclusion zones in schedule 2
• Electrical Safety Code of Practice 2020 – Working near overhead and underground electric lines

What You Get

• An editable Microsoft Word document (16 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; high-visibility long-sleeve shirt and trousers; hard hat; safety glasses
• Emergency arrangements for: brace struck, panel moving or leaning, person in the EWP basket injured or stuck and contact with an overhead 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.