Trench Shoring and Trench Box Installation SWMS

Suits civil, drainage, plumbing and utility contractors who install and remove trench shoring and trench boxes with an excavator or crane. It covers planning, site security, inspecting the equipment, lifting and lowering, shoring, entry and exit, moving the box, backfilling and loading out. General trenching and excavator operation are covered by other SWMS.

Work in or near a trench with an excavated depth greater than 1.5 metres, and work where powered mobile plant moves, are high risk construction work (WHS Regulation s 291(g)(i) and (o)), so those items are ticked. The collapse and access controls in s 306 apply to trenches at least 1.5 metres deep. Tick the other items the job involves, for example energised electrical services, gas or fuel lines, a road in use, or a confined space.

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

What Is Covered In Our Trench Shoring and Trench Box Installation SWMS?

After the standard pre-start checks, the job steps run from “Plan the shoring and select the equipment” to “Load out, move and store the equipment”. The hazards and controls include:

• Trench wall collapse and burial
• Dropped trench box or shoring during lifting
• Crane or excavator overturning
• Contact with overhead power lines
• Striking buried services
• Falling into the trench
• Falling objects from the trench edge
• Crush injuries from moving boxes and panels
• Hydraulic shore failure
• Unsafe entry and exit
• Water, fumes and low oxygen in trenches
• Manual handling of struts and pins

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:

• Is carried out in or near a shaft or trench with an excavated depth greater than 1.5m, or a tunnel
• 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
• Competent person to inspect the trench and the shoring before entry and after rain or ground movement
• High risk work licence in the dogging class, or a higher rigging class (Schedule 3), for anyone who slings a load or directs a plant operator when the load is out of the operator’s view (Schedule 19, dogging work)
• High risk work licence for the class of crane used (Schedule 3) if a crane lifts the box; no high risk work licence class applies to operating an excavator
• Excavator or crane operator trained and assessed as competent on the machine and the lifting attachments used
• Training in the assembly, use and inspection of the trench box or shoring system, from the maker or a competent trainer
• Spotter briefed on hand signals, the exclusion zone and the power line distances
• Site induction

Legislation and Codes of Practice Referenced

• Work Health and Safety Act 2011 (Qld)
• Work Health and Safety Regulation 2011 (Qld)
• Excavation Work Code of Practice 2021
• Managing Risks of Plant in the Workplace Code of Practice 2021
• Mobile Crane Code of Practice 2024
• Managing the Risk of Falls at Workplaces Code of Practice 2021
• Hazardous Manual Tasks Code of Practice 2021
• Managing Noise and Preventing Hearing Loss at Work Code of Practice 2021
• Managing the Work Environment and Facilities Code of Practice 2021
• Traffic Management for Construction or Maintenance Work Code of Practice 2008
• 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): electrical work and exclusion zones (schedule 2)
• Electrical Safety Code of Practice 2020 – Working near overhead and underground electric lines

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
• 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; high-visibility clothing; hard hat; safety glasses
• Emergency arrangements for: trench collapse and power line contact
• 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.