When you need a SWMS in Queensland
Before high-risk construction work starts, the business doing it must make sure a SWMS has been prepared, either by itself or by someone else (WHS Regulation 2011 (Qld), s299(1)).
High-risk construction work is construction work that involves any of these 18 types of work (s291):
- A risk of a person falling more than 2 m
- Work on a telecommunication tower
- Demolishing a load-bearing or structural element
- Disturbing, or likely disturbing, asbestos
- Structural alterations or repairs that need temporary support to prevent collapse
- Work in or near a confined space
- Work in or near a shaft or trench deeper than 1.5 m, or a tunnel
- Use of explosives
- Work on or near pressurised gas mains or piping
- Work on or near chemical, fuel or refrigerant lines
- Work on or near energised electrical installations or services
- Work in an area that may have a contaminated or flammable atmosphere
- Tilt-up or precast concrete
- Work on, in or next to a road, railway, shipping lane or other traffic corridor in use by traffic other than pedestrians
- Work in an area where powered mobile plant is moving
- Work in an area with artificial extremes of temperature
- Work in or near water or other liquid with a risk of drowning
- Diving work
If your job doesn’t involve any of these, the law doesn’t require a SWMS. You still have to manage the risks, though, and your principal contractor may ask for one anyway.
What a Queensland SWMS must contain
Section 299(2) says a SWMS must:
- Identify the work that is high-risk construction work. Name the category or categories from the list above and describe the actual task.
- State the hazards and the risks to health and safety. Describe the specific hazards on this job, not hazards in general.
- Describe the control measures. Say exactly what will be done to control each risk.
- Describe how the controls will be put in place, monitored and reviewed. Say who checks, when they check, and what happens if conditions change.
Section 299(3) also says the SWMS must take into account the conditions at the workplace and, on a construction project, the principal contractor’s WHS management plan. It must be written so the people using it can easily read and understand it.
What WorkSafe Queensland says it should also include
WorkSafe Queensland’s SWMS guide says a SWMS should also include:
- Your business name, address and ABN
- The person or people responsible for putting the SWMS in place, monitoring it and making sure it’s followed
- On a construction project: the principal contractor’s name, the site address, the date the SWMS was prepared, the date it was given to the principal contractor, and any review date
It may also include the names of workers consulted, the consultation date and their signatures.
The most common reason a SWMS gets sent back
The controls are too vague. WorkSafe’s guide uses “use appropriate PPE” as an example of a control that doesn’t actually describe anything. A SWMS should tell the crew exactly what to do, so supervisors and workers aren’t left to decide the controls themselves on the day.
Worked example: one row of the hazards and controls table
This is an illustration of the level of detail to aim for, not a ready-made SWMS. Your hazards and controls must match your own job and site.
| Task | Replace box gutter on single-storey commercial roof, approx. 4 m to ground |
|---|---|
| High-risk work type | s291(a): risk of a person falling more than 2 m |
| Hazard | Unprotected roof edge along the gutter line; fragile skylight sheets near the work area |
| Risk | Worker falls from the roof edge or through a skylight, causing serious injury or death |
| Controls | Edge protection installed along the work edge by a competent person before roof access. Skylights covered or meshed and marked before work starts. Single designated access point from a secured ladder or scaffold stair. Exclusion zone at ground level below the work area. |
| Who checks and when | Leading hand inspects edge protection and skylight covers before first access each day and records it on the job. Work stops if any protection is removed or damaged. |
| Review trigger | Change in roof access, weather affecting the roof surface, or any change to edge protection |
Before work starts: give it to the principal contractor
On a construction project, the SWMS must be given to the principal contractor before the high-risk construction work starts (s301). WorkSafe Queensland says the work must not start until the principal contractor has a copy.
Following, reviewing and keeping your SWMS
Follow it. You must have arrangements in place to make sure the work is done the way the SWMS says. If the work isn’t being done that way, stop it immediately or as soon as it’s safe, and only start again once it can be done in line with the SWMS (s300).
Review it. If the control measures for the work are revised, the SWMS must be reviewed and revised where necessary (s302). When you change it, tell everyone involved, explain how they can get the updated version, and on a construction project give a copy to the principal contractor.
Keep it. Keep a copy until the high-risk construction work is finished. If a notifiable incident happens in connection with the work, keep it for at least 2 years after the incident (s303). WorkSafe recommends keeping every version if it’s revised.
Make it available. Workers doing the work must be able to get to it easily, and it must be available for inspection (s303). The crew doesn’t each need their own copy, but they do need to know and understand the hazards and controls.
Consult the crew. Workers, and their health and safety representatives, should be consulted when the SWMS is prepared. If the workers haven’t been engaged yet, consult them when the SWMS is first given to them, for example at induction or in a toolbox talk.