SWMS: when you need one and what goes in it

Updated · 7 minute read

The short answer: you need a safe work method statement (SWMS) before you start any of the 18 kinds of high risk construction work listed below, such as working where someone could fall more than 2 metres, near live electrics, or in a trench deeper than 1.5 metres. For other construction work you don’t need one, but you still have to manage the risks.

What a SWMS is

Safe Work Australia describes a SWMS as a written document that identifies the high risk construction work to be done at a workplace, the hazards and risks from that work, the measures to control them, and how those measures will be put in place, monitored and reviewed.

It is not a step-by-step procedure. It is a short, practical sheet the crew and the supervisor can check the job against. Safe Work Australia is blunt that a long, overly detailed SWMS is harder to understand and harder to follow on site.

When you need one

In the states and territories that use the national model work health and safety (WHS) laws, a SWMS is required for these 18 kinds of high risk construction work:

  1. Work where a person could fall more than 2 metres.
  2. Work on a telecommunication tower.
  3. Demolition of a load-bearing element, or one related to the physical integrity of the structure.
  4. Work that involves, or is likely to involve, disturbing asbestos.
  5. Structural alterations or repairs that need temporary support to prevent collapse.
  6. Work in or near a confined space.
  7. Work in or near a shaft or trench deeper than 1.5 metres, or a tunnel.
  8. Work involving explosives.
  9. Work on or near pressurised gas mains or piping.
  10. Work on or near chemical, fuel or refrigerant lines.
  11. Work on or near energised electrical installations or services.
  12. Work in an area that may have a contaminated or flammable atmosphere.
  13. Tilt-up or precast concrete work.
  14. Work on, in or next to a road, railway, shipping lane or other traffic corridor in use by traffic other than pedestrians.
  15. Work in an area where powered mobile plant is moving.
  16. Work in areas with artificial extremes of temperature.
  17. Work in or near water or another liquid where there is a risk of drowning.
  18. Diving work.

Everyday examples from the Code of Practice: installing roof trusses or roof sheeting, cutting or drilling into an asbestos cement sheet wall, laying pipes in a trench more than 1.5 metres deep, working near overhead or underground power lines, and working where a skid steer loader or trucks are moving.

One SWMS can cover several of these at once, for example a roofing job that involves both a fall risk and a crane. Or you can prepare one per activity, as long as you think about how the activities affect each other.

Who prepares it

The business doing the high risk work must prepare the SWMS, or make sure one has been prepared, before the work starts. In practice that is usually whoever is carrying out the work: the builder for their own workers, or the subcontractor for themselves and their team.

You have to consult the workers who will do the job, and their health and safety representative if there is one. If nobody is engaged yet when you write it, consult them when you first hand it out, for example at a toolbox talk.

On a construction project worth $250,000 or more there is a principal contractor, and you must give them a copy of your SWMS before the high risk work starts.

What has to go in it

A SWMS must:

  1. identify which of the high risk construction work activities the job involves;
  2. state the hazards from that work and the risks they create;
  3. describe the control measures you will use; and
  4. describe how those controls will be put in place, monitored and reviewed.

Be specific. The Code of Practice gives “use appropriate PPE” as an example of what not to write, because it leaves the decision to whoever is on site. Say which PPE, which barrier, which exclusion zone.

It also has to be something the crew can actually understand, allowing for literacy and for workers whose first language is not English. Pictures and diagrams are fine. Hazards that are not part of the high risk work, such as noise or manual handling, are managed in other ways and do not need to be in the SWMS.

Can you reuse a generic SWMS?

Yes, for work you do regularly, but only after you have reviewed it for the particular site, the conditions on the day and the people doing the work, and changed it where needed. A generic SWMS copied from job to job without that review may not meet the law.

On site: following, stopping and reviewing

The high risk work has to be done the way the SWMS says. If it isn’t, the work must stop straight away, or as soon as it is safe to stop, and must not start again until it can be done in line with the SWMS. That usually means reviewing the SWMS and fixing either the method or the document.

Whenever the control measures change, review the SWMS and update it, and consult the workers affected when you do.

Where to keep it and for how long

Keep the SWMS where the work is happening, or somewhere it can be brought to site quickly. An electronic copy is fine. It must be available to the workers and for inspection until the high risk work is finished, and if a notifiable incident happens during that work, for at least two years after the incident. If you revise it, keep every version.

If you work in Victoria

Victoria has its own Occupational Health and Safety Regulations 2017 rather than the national model laws, but the SWMS rules are close. Employers and self-employed people must prepare a SWMS before high risk construction work starts, follow it, stop if it is not being followed, and review it with affected employees and their health and safety representatives. WorkSafe Victoria lists 19 activities rather than 18, largely because work involving a tunnel is counted separately. The duty holder must keep a copy for the duration of the work.

SWMS checklist

  • Does the job involve any of the high risk construction work activities? If not, you don’t need a SWMS, but you still manage the risks.
  • Your business details, the job and the site address.
  • Which high risk activities the job involves.
  • The hazards and risks from each, in plain words.
  • Specific control measures, not “use appropriate PPE”.
  • Who checks the controls are in place, and how.
  • The workers you consulted, and their signatures once they have read it.
  • The date it went to the principal contractor, on a $250,000+ project.
  • A review date, and a note to review it whenever the controls change.
  • Kept on site or quickly reachable until the work is done, with old versions kept.

For a blank template, Safe Work Australia publishes one with its information sheet, and an interactive SWMS tool (both linked below). WorkSafe Victoria publishes its own template for Victorian work.

Pricing a job that will need a SWMS? Read how to write a trade quote that wins the job.