Working in Ceiling Space SWMS

For electricians, insulation installers, cablers, air-conditioning and other trades who enter roof and ceiling spaces through a manhole. It follows the job from the asbestos and electrical checks through access, moving across the framing, heat and pests to leaving the space and restoring power.

A SWMS is legally required under the WHS Regulation (s 299) when the ceiling space job is high risk construction work, such as work with a fall risk of more than 2 metres or on or near energised installations; tick the artificial extremes of temperature item when the job is beside hot or cold plant or the roof space gets extremely hot. For smaller jobs this document works as a written safe work procedure or task risk assessment.

New to SWMS? Read What is a safe work method statement?

What is covered in our working in ceiling space SWMS?

After the standard pre-start checks, the job steps run from “Check the ceiling space for asbestos and hazardous materials before entry” to “Complete the work, leave the space and restore power”. The hazards and controls include:

• Disturbing asbestos in ceiling materials and insulation
• Contact with energised cables and foil insulation
• Falling through the ceiling lining
• Falling from the ladder at the manhole
• Tools and debris falling onto people below
• Heat illness in a hot ceiling space
• Dust, insulation fibres, droppings and mould
• Bites and stings from snakes, spiders and wasps
• Head strikes, nails and awkward postures
• Fire and shock from power tools and hot work
• Working alone and delayed rescue through a small manhole
• Re-energising circuits while people are still in the space

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
• Is carried out on or near energised electrical installations or services

Licences, training and competency

• General construction induction training card (white card) for construction work
• Electrical work licence (licensed electrician) for isolating, testing and tagging circuits and for electrical work on cables or fittings
• Asbestos awareness training so workers recognise suspect ceiling materials, stop work and report them, with a record kept; workers the business reasonably believes may be involved in asbestos removal work or asbestos-related work also need the asbestos identification, safe handling and control measures training that WHS Regulation s 445 requires (any asbestos work has a separate SWMS)
• Training in the safe use of ladders, working platforms and any fall protection equipment used
• Respirator fit-check training for workers who wear P2 respirators
• First aid equipment, facilities and an adequate number of trained first aiders (or access to them), as the first aid assessment shows the work needs (WHS Regulation s 42)
• Site induction

Legislation and codes of practice referenced

• Work Health and Safety Act 2011 (Qld)
• Work Health and Safety Regulation 2011 (Qld)
• Managing the Risk of Falls at Workplaces Code of Practice 2021
• Managing the Work Environment and Facilities 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
• Hazardous Manual Tasks 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
• Electrical Safety Act 2002 (Qld)
• Electrical Safety Regulation 2026 (Qld): roof space work (ss 31 to 36), installation of ceiling insulation (ss 37 to 46), isolation, testing and energised electrical work
• AS/NZS 3000 (Electrical installations (known as the Australian/New Zealand Wiring Rules)), clause 4.5.2.3 on recessed luminaires, as named in Electrical Safety Regulation 2026 s 39
• Safe Work Australia model Code of Practice: Managing the risks of biological hazards at work (guidance)

What you get

• An editable Microsoft Word document (16 pages), laid out on 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: hard hat with chin strap; P2 particulate respirator, fitted and fit-checked for each worker; safety glasses; cut-resistant gloves
• Emergency arrangements for: electric shock, fall through the ceiling lining and heat illness
• 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.

Checked against the Queensland laws and codes of practice listed above. Last reviewed October 2026.