Trauma and Crime Scene Cleaning SWMS

Suits trauma and crime scene cleaners who clean and decontaminate premises after death, injury, violence or unattended decomposition. It follows the job from planning and scene release through containment zones, PPE, sharps, removing contaminated materials, disinfecting, odour and insects, asbestos in older premises, biohazard waste, and the welfare of the workers. Bird dropping and general biohazard cleaning, sharps handling and storm and flood clean-up need their own documents.

Cleaning after death, injury or violence is not construction work, so no item is pre-ticked and a SWMS is required by law only for high risk construction work (WHS Regulation s 299). Where the job also removes wall or ceiling linings, floorboards or other parts of the building, that removal is construction work (s 289(1)): tick the reg 291 items that apply to it, such as work that involves or is likely to involve the disturbance of asbestos. Otherwise this document works as a written safe work procedure and task risk assessment that you tailor to your scenes.

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

What Is Covered In Our Trauma and Crime Scene Cleaning SWMS?

After the standard pre-start checks, the job steps run from “Plan the job and assess the scene” to “Worker welfare, psychological harm and exposure incidents”. The hazards and controls include:

• Blood-borne pathogens
• Needlestick and sharps injuries
• Blood and body fluid splash
• Decomposition, odour and insects
• Disinfectant fumes and mixed products
• Biohazard waste handling and disposal
• Asbestos in older premises
• Psychological harm to workers
• Heat stress in full PPE
• Manual handling of wet carpet and mattresses
• Contamination spreading from the scene

High Risk Construction Work

None of the high risk construction work items (WHS Regulation 2011 (Qld) s 291) are pre-ticked, because this job is not high risk construction work by itself. Tick any that apply on your site.

Licences, Training and Competency

• Workers trained in biohazard cleaning: blood-borne virus precautions, the donning and removal of PPE, sharps handling, decontamination methods and waste handling (WHS Regulation s 39 information, training and instruction)
• Workers trained in the hazards of the disinfectants and cleaning chemicals used and in their SDS controls (WHS Regulation s 39)
• Fit-tested respirator users trained in the fit, use and care of the respirator
• Hepatitis B vaccination offered to every worker who may be exposed to blood or body fluids, as this SWMS’s own practice
• Workers whom the business reasonably believes may be involved in asbestos removal work or asbestos-related work are trained in the identification and safe handling of, and suitable control measures for, asbestos and asbestos-containing material, and a training record is kept (WHS Regulation s 445)
• No high risk work licence class in Schedule 3 of the WHS Regulation covers this work
• First aid equipment and facilities, and the person appointed as the job’s first aider (WHS Regulation s 42), trained in needlestick and splash first aid

Legislation and Codes of Practice Referenced

• Work Health and Safety Act 2011 (Qld)
• Work Health and Safety Regulation 2011 (Qld)
• Managing Risks of Hazardous Chemicals in the Workplace Code of Practice 2021
• Managing the risk of psychosocial hazards at work Code of Practice 2022
• Hazardous Manual Tasks Code of Practice 2021
• First Aid in the Workplace Code of Practice 2021
• How to Manage and Control Asbestos in the Workplace Code of Practice 2021
• How to Safely Remove Asbestos Code of Practice 2021
• How to Manage Work Health and Safety Risks Code of Practice 2021
• Environmental Protection Act 1994 (Qld)
• Environmental Protection Regulation 2019 (Qld)

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
• 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: disposable coveralls with hood, sealed at the wrists and ankles; double layer of gloves, with a puncture-resistant outer glove where sharps may be present
• Emergency arrangements for: needlestick, cut or splash to the eyes, mouth or broken skin, chemical gas release from mixed products and A worker distressed by the scene
• 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.