Water Main Pipe Laying SWMS

Suits civil, utility, plumbing and pipeline contractors who lay water mains in roads, verges and easements. It follows the job from services, overhead lines, traffic control and pipe delivery, through the trench, pipe lifting and laying, to pressure testing, flushing, chlorine disinfection, connecting to the existing main and reinstatement. General trenching, drainage and operating the excavator are covered by separate SWMS.

A SWMS is legally required before work starts in or near a trench deeper than 1.5 metres, on or beside a road in use, or where powered mobile plant moves (WHS Regulation sections 291 and 299); those three items are ticked, and you can tick others such as energised electrical services (underground cables or overhead lines near the work), confined space (a valve pit) or a contaminated atmosphere (for example silica dust from sawing concrete) when the job meets them.

Learn More: What Is A Safe Work Method Statement?
Have you ever been asked to provide a SWMS on a project in Queensland? Read our guide to what a Safe Work Method Statement is and when you need one.

What Is Covered In Our Water Main Pipe Laying SWMS?

The job steps run in the order the work is done, from pre-start checks to finishing up. The hazards and controls include:

• Trench collapse and engulfment
• Workers struck by the excavator, tipper or delivery trucks
• Contact with overhead power lines and buried cables
• Pipes rolling or dropping during unloading and lifting
• Excavator lifts overloaded or lifting points failing
• Traffic and pedestrians at the work area
• Gas, fumes and flooding in the trench
• Asbestos cement pipe in existing mains
• Pressurised release during pressure testing
• Hypochlorite burns and toxic gas from disinfection
• Chlorinated water discharge
• Silica dust and noise from sawing and breaking
• Heat and sun exposure
• Open trenches left unguarded

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 on, in or adjacent to a road, railway, shipping lane or other traffic corridor that is in use by traffic other than pedestrians
• 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 including the emergency plan, trench rescue arrangements and exclusion zones
• Competent person to design or approve trench shields or shoring and to inspect the trench before each shift, after rain and after ground movement
• Earthmoving plant operators verified as competent on the machine and attachments (Schedule 3 of the WHS Regulation has no high risk work licence class for excavators); the excavator has its own SWMS
• High risk work licence for the class of any vehicle loading crane (10 metre tonnes or more), mobile crane or forklift truck used to unload and move pipes (Schedule 3)
• High risk work licence in the dogging class, or a higher rigging class (Schedule 3 items 4 to 7), for anyone who slings a load or directs a plant operator in moving a load that is out of the operator’s view (Schedule 19, dogging work); a vehicle loading crane licence (item 13) covers slinging for its own crane
• Accredited traffic controllers for anyone who directs traffic (Transport Operations (Road Use Management – Accreditation and Other Provisions) Regulation 2015 ss 54 and 55)
• Competent person in charge of each pressure test, and operators trained on the jointing and test equipment used
• Training in the disinfection chemicals used: SDS, PPE, spills and first aid (WHS Regulation s 39), with supervision where workers handle them (s 379)
• Trained operator for the cable locator and the gas monitor
• Asbestos training (WHS Regulation s 445) for workers the PCBU reasonably believes may be involved in asbestos removal or asbestos-related work, such as on old asbestos cement mains; crystalline silica training where the dust assessment finds sawing or breaking high risk (s 529CD)

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 304 to 306 (excavation work, underground essential services information and trenches)
• Excavation Work Code of Practice 2021
• Managing Risks of Plant in the Workplace Code of Practice 2021
• Mobile Crane Code of Practice 2024 (earthmoving plant used to lift pipes, quick hitches and vehicle loading cranes)
• Traffic Management for Construction or Maintenance Work Code of Practice 2008
• Managing Risks of Hazardous Chemicals in the Workplace Code of Practice 2021
• Labelling of Workplace Hazardous Chemicals Code of Practice 2021
• Confined Spaces Code of Practice 2021
• Hazardous Manual Tasks Code of Practice 2021
• Managing Noise and Preventing Hearing Loss at Work Code of Practice 2021
• 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 the Work Environment and Facilities 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)
• Electrical Safety Regulation 2026 (Qld): ss 10 to 15 (overhead and underground electric lines) and the exclusion zones in schedule 2
• Electrical Safety Code of Practice 2020 – Working near overhead and underground electric lines (distances come from the 2026 Regulation)
• Transport Operations (Road Use Management – Accreditation and Other Provisions) Regulation 2015 (Qld): ss 54 and 55 (traffic controllers)
• Plumbing and Drainage Act 2018 (Qld) (property service connections are plumbing work)

What You Get

• An editable Microsoft Word document (22 pages), laid out on A4 landscape pages
• Business, client, job and document details typed once and filled in on every page, plus a space for your logo
• The high risk construction work checklist, worded as WHS Regulation s 291, and the construction project question (s 292)
• A worker and health and safety representative consultation record
• Qualifications, plant, PPE, hazardous chemicals, safety equipment, permits, references and emergency arrangements filled in for this work
• A 5 x 5 risk matrix, and job steps with initial and residual risk scores and the people responsible
• Implementing, monitoring and review requirements, an additional controls log, revision history and a worker sign-on sheet

Review and adjust it for your site, your plant and the way your crew does the job, and talk it through with your workers before work starts. If you have any trouble downloading this SWMS, you can contact us at any time. Please make sure you read our Disclaimer before downloading this SWMS.