VRF Air Conditioning System Installation SWMS

For air conditioning and mechanical contractors, electrical contractors and builders who install commercial variable refrigerant flow (VRF) systems: outdoor units, indoor units, branch boxes and long refrigerant pipe runs. It follows the job from the building survey through work at height, penetrations, lifting the units, pipework and brazing, pressure testing and charging, to commissioning and handover. Split-system and ducted installation, and refrigerant handling on its own, are covered by separate SWMS.

Refrigerant pipework is part of every VRF installation, so item 9 (WHS Regulation s 291(j)) is ticked. Tick item 0 (a fall of more than 2 metres) when anyone could fall that far, for example at a roof edge or opening, on a plant deck or in a riser, which covers most commercial VRF jobs. Tick item 14 when a crane or other powered mobile plant works in the area, item 10 (s 291(k)) when you drill, core or cut near energised installations or work on or near energised parts, item 3 if asbestos may be disturbed, and item 11 when coring or drilling concrete creates silica dust.

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

What Is Covered In Our VRF Air Conditioning System Installation SWMS?

After the standard pre-start checks, the job steps run from “Survey the building, plan the job and check the design” to “Manage heat, sun, wind and fatigue, then clean up and hand over”. The hazards and controls include:

• Falls from roofs, plant decks and ladders
• Falling through fragile sheeting and ceilings
• Unit dropped or swinging during the crane lift
• Crane contact with overhead power lines
• Electric shock while isolating and connecting
• Fire and burns from brazing refrigerant pipe
• Pressurised nitrogen and refrigerant releases
• Cold burns and low oxygen from refrigerant
• Silica dust from coring and drilling
• Asbestos in older ceilings and risers
• Unsealed penetrations in fire-rated walls
• Heavy indoor units and branch boxes overhead
• Heat, wind and lightning on the roof

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 on or near chemical, fuel or refrigerant lines

Licences, Training and Competency

• General construction induction training card (white card) for construction work, and the building’s site and roof access induction
• Licensed electrical worker for all fixed wiring, isolation, connection to the supply and testing (Electrical Safety Act 2002 s 55); the licensed electrical contractor gives the person the work was done for a certificate of testing and safety or of testing and compliance (Electrical Safety Regulation 2026 ss 208 and 229)
• Refrigerant handling licence of the type the work needs, for anyone who opens a refrigerant circuit, charges the system or recovers refrigerant: a Commonwealth scheme that sits outside Queensland work health and safety law, so check the current licence class for a multi-unit commercial system and sight each licence before work starts
• High risk work licence for the class of any crane that lifts units, where Schedule 3 sets a class for it (WHS Regulation Schedule 3 items 8 to 18)
• Dogging licence (Schedule 3 item 4), or a rigging class that includes dogging work (items 5 to 7), for the person who does dogging work as Schedule 19 defines it: applying slinging techniques, including the selection and inspection of lifting gear, to safely sling a load, or directing a plant operator in the movement of a load when the load is out of the operator’s view; a trainee works only under the supervision of a licensed dogger (WHS Regulation ss 81 and 82(1))
• High risk work licence for a boom-type elevating work platform where the boom length is 11 m or more (Schedule 3 item 21); scissor lifts and shorter booms have no licence class
• Licensed plumber, where plumbing law requires one, for the connection of the condensate drain into the building’s plumbing and drainage system
• Training in the fall controls used (edge protection, travel restraint or fall arrest harness system) and in the rescue plan, for everyone who works at height
• Asbestos awareness for workers who may drill or cut older ceilings, walls, risers or plant platforms: recognise suspect material, stop work and report it; training in identification and safe handling for workers the business reasonably believes may do asbestos-related work (WHS Regulation s 445)
• Competent person to inspect roof access, edge protection and anchor points, and a structural engineer or designer to confirm the roof or plant deck carries the outdoor units
• First aid arrangements for the site, including access to an adequate number of workers or other persons trained in first aid (WHS Regulation s 42)

Legislation and Codes of Practice Referenced

• Work Health and Safety Act 2011 (Qld)
• Work Health and Safety Regulation 2011 (Qld)
• Work Health and Safety Regulation 2011 (Qld) ss 78 to 80 and 306C to 306M: managing the risk of a fall, edge protection, fall protection covers, travel restraint, fall arrest harness systems and ladders
• Work Health and Safety Regulation 2011 (Qld) ss 54 and 55, and ss 315L and 315M where they apply: falling objects, and the principal contractor’s duties for a load lifted over an adjoining area and for closing an adjoining area
• Work Health and Safety Regulation 2011 (Qld) s 219, Schedule 3 and Schedule 19: plant that lifts loads, high risk work licences and dogging work
• Work Health and Safety Regulation 2011 (Qld) ss 422, 425, 445, 450 and 451 and s 529B: asbestos identification, register, training and refurbishment, and controls for processing a crystalline silica substance
• Work Health and Safety Regulation 2011 (Qld) ss 53 and 355: flammable and combustible substances (including gas cylinders) kept to the lowest practicable quantity, and ignition sources kept out of a hazardous area, for brazing
• Work Health and Safety Regulation 2011 (Qld) ss 36, 39, 40, 42, 44, 56 to 58 and 60: hierarchy of controls, training, heat, first aid, personal protective equipment, noise and hazardous manual tasks
• Managing the Risk of Falls at Workplaces Code of Practice 2021
• Mobile Crane Code of Practice 2024
• Managing Risks of Plant in the Workplace Code of Practice 2021
• Hazardous Manual Tasks Code of Practice 2021
• Managing Risks of Hazardous Chemicals in the Workplace Code of Practice 2021
• Welding Processes Code of Practice 2021 (brazing is an allied hot work process)
• Managing respirable crystalline silica dust exposure in construction and manufacturing of construction elements Code of Practice 2022
• How to Manage and Control Asbestos in the Workplace Code of Practice 2021
• Managing Noise and Preventing Hearing Loss at Work Code of Practice 2021
• First Aid in the Workplace Code of Practice 2021
• How to Manage Work Health and Safety Risks Code of Practice 2021
• Electrical Safety Act 2002 (Qld) and Electrical Safety Regulation 2026 (Qld): overhead line exclusion zones (ss 10 to 13 and schedule 2), energised electrical work and isolation (ss 193 to 204), and certificates (ss 208 and 229)
• Electrical Safety Code of Practice 2020 – Working near overhead and underground electric lines (distances come from the 2026 Regulation)
• Building Fire Safety Regulation 2008 (Qld): air conditioning and evacuation routes (s 13)
• Plumbing and Drainage Act 2018 (Qld): ss 56 to 58 (a licence is needed to carry out, supervise or direct plumbing or drainage work, with exemptions that include unregulated work)

What You Get

• An editable Microsoft Word document (20 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 with non-slip soles; hard hat with a chin strap for work at height and while a lift is under way, with a brim or neck flap for sun; high-visibility clothing
• Emergency arrangements for: fall from a roof, ladder or platform, electric shock and refrigerant release, gas smell or fire at the brazing area
• 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.