Worksite Hazards SWMS

Suits builders, trades and small contractors who want one SWMS for the common hazards of an ordinary building or civil site. It follows the work from site set-up through power lines, underground services, roads, deliveries, manual handling, dust and chemicals, noise, weather and animals to pack-up. Tasks with their own high risk items, such as work at heights or confined spaces, need a separate SWMS.

A SWMS is legally required under WHS Regulation s 299 only where construction work meets a high risk item in s 291, such as work near energised electrical services, a traffic corridor in use, movement of powered mobile plant or work that creates silica dust (tick the contaminated atmosphere item, s 291(l)); otherwise this works as a written safe work procedure or site risk assessment.

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

What is covered in our worksite hazards SWMS?

After the standard pre-start checks, the job steps run from “Check the work area and set up access” to “Pack up and leave the site safe”. The hazards and controls include:

• Contact with overhead power lines
• Striking underground services
• Powered mobile plant and delivery vehicles
• Work on or near roads and traffic
• Slips, trips and falls into holes and openings
• Manual handling of materials and equipment
• Silica dust, chemicals and fuel
• Noise and hand-arm vibration
• Heat illness, sun and storms
• Snakes, spiders and bushfire
• Crane truck and forklift unloading
• Unsecured tools and materials at pack-up

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 energised electrical installations or services
• 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
• Site induction
• Traffic controller accreditation for anyone directing traffic
• High risk work licence in the relevant Schedule 3 class for any licensed plant used (for example the forklift truck class, or the vehicle loading crane class for a crane truck of 10 metre tonnes or more)
• Verification of competency for operators of plant used on the job
• Safety observer (spotter) briefed and competent to watch plant near overhead lines
• Silica training (a VET accredited course or regulator-approved training) where silica processing is high risk
• Current first aid certificate for the designated first aider

Legislation and codes of practice referenced

• Work Health and Safety Act 2011 (Qld)
• Work Health and Safety Regulation 2011 (Qld)
• Electrical Safety Act 2002 (Qld)
• Electrical Safety Regulation 2026 (Qld) (overhead and underground electric lines, Schedule 2)
• Electrical Safety Code of Practice 2020 – Working near overhead and underground electric lines (distances come from the 2026 Regulation)
• Excavation Work Code of Practice 2021
• Managing the Risk of Falls at Workplaces Code of Practice 2021
• Mobile Crane Code of Practice 2024 (crane trucks and vehicle-loading cranes)
• Managing Risks of Plant in the Workplace Code of Practice 2021
• Traffic Management for Construction or Maintenance Work Code of Practice 2008
• Hazardous Manual Tasks Code of Practice 2021
• Managing Risks of Hazardous Chemicals in the Workplace Code of Practice 2021
• Labelling of Workplace Hazardous Chemicals Code of Practice 2021
• Managing respirable crystalline silica dust exposure in construction and manufacturing of construction elements Code of Practice 2022
• Managing Noise and Preventing Hearing Loss at Work Code of Practice 2021
• Managing the Work Environment and Facilities Code of Practice 2021
• First Aid in the Workplace Code of Practice 2021
• Transport Operations (Road Use Management – Accreditation and Other Provisions) Regulation 2015 (Qld) (traffic controllers)
• Heavy Vehicle National Law Act 2012 (Qld) (chain of responsibility for loading and delivery)
• AS/NZS 1716:2012 (Respiratory protective devices) and AS/NZS 1715:2009 (Selection, use and maintenance of respiratory protective equipment), as named in WHS Regulation s 529B

What you get

• An editable Microsoft Word document (17 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: safety boots with a slip-resistant sole; high-visibility long-sleeved shirt and long pants; gloves suited to the task (leather or cut-resistant); safety glasses
• Emergency arrangements for: plant or a person touches a power line, heat stroke and snake or funnel-web spider bite
• 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.