What is a SWMS?

The short version

A Safe Work Method Statement (SWMS) is a written document that sets out the high risk construction work being carried out, the hazards that work creates, the control measures that will be used, and how those controls will be put in place, monitored and reviewed.

It is not a generic safety policy and it is not a risk register for your whole business. It describes one job, on one site, done one way, by one crew. That is why a SWMS downloaded from the internet and used unchanged is close to worthless: the regulator, the principal contractor and — far more importantly — the people doing the work all need it to match what is actually going to happen.

When you need one

A SWMS is required before high risk construction work starts. It is the work that triggers the requirement, not the size of the job or the value of the contract. A two-hour job replacing a light fitting on a 3-metre ladder is high risk construction work; a six-month fit-out that never leaves ground level may not be.

In New South Wales, Queensland, South Australia, Tasmania, the ACT, the Northern Territory and Western Australia, the requirement sits in the model Work Health and Safety Regulations. Victoria is different: it never adopted the model WHS laws and instead runs the Occupational Health and Safety Act 2004 and OHS Regulations 2017, which have their own definition of high risk construction work and their own SWMS requirement. The practical effect is similar, but the categories are not identical, so a Victorian job needs to be checked against Victorian rules.

What has to be in it

The regulations are specific about the minimum. A SWMS must:

• identify the work that is high risk construction work
• state the health and safety hazards and risks arising from that work
• describe how the risks will be controlled
• describe how the control measures will be implemented, monitored and reviewed

What a good one has beyond the minimum

Meeting the minimum gets you a compliant document. What makes it useful on site is detail the regulations do not spell out: the actual site address, the crew and their tickets, the plant being used and what has to be inspected before use, the emergency arrangements including how you would rescue someone, and a version history showing the document was revised when the job changed.

The version history is worth dwelling on. A SWMS that has been revised twice — once after a site inspection, once at a pre-start when the weather turned — tells anyone reading it that the document is alive. One that has never been touched since it was generated tells the opposite story.

Who prepares it, and who signs it

The person conducting a business or undertaking (PCBU) carrying out the high risk construction work is responsible for preparing the SWMS. In practice that is the subcontractor doing the work, not the head contractor — a roofer prepares the roofing SWMS, an electrician prepares the electrical one.

It has to be prepared in consultation with the workers who will do the work. That is a legal requirement, not a nicety, and it is also the step that makes the document accurate: the people on the tools know how the job is actually done. Every worker then signs on to confirm they have read and understood it, normally at the pre-start on the day.

The SWMS must be kept and made available for inspection, and if a notifiable incident happens in connection with the work, it must be kept for at least two years.

When it has to be reviewed

A SWMS must be reviewed — and revised if needed — whenever the control measures are not adequately controlling the risk. In real terms that means whenever the method changes, the site conditions change, new plant arrives, a new hazard appears, a new crew starts, or an incident or near miss happens.

Work must stop if it is not being done in accordance with the SWMS, and it must not restart until it can be.

Common questions

Is a SWMS the same as a risk assessment?

No. A risk assessment identifies and rates hazards. A SWMS goes further: it is a specific legal document required before high risk construction work, and it must also describe how controls will be implemented, monitored and reviewed. Most SWMS contain a risk assessment inside them.

How long does a SWMS last?

There is no expiry date. It stays valid for as long as it accurately describes the work being done. It must be reviewed and revised whenever the work, the site, the crew or the plant changes, or when the controls are not working.

Can I reuse a SWMS on my next job?

You can reuse the structure and the hazard library, but the document has to be made specific to the new site before work starts — the address, the crew, the plant, the access arrangements and the emergency details all change. Reusing one unchanged is the most common compliance failure.

Who has to sign the SWMS?

Every worker who will carry out the high risk construction work, before they start. The sign-on confirms they were briefed on the hazards and the controls and understood them.

Keep reading

• The 18 categories of high risk construction workThe full list, what each one means on a real job, and where Victoria differs.
• The hierarchy of control, used properlySix levels, why PPE-only controls fail, and how to write ones that hold up.
• SWMS vs JSA vs safe work procedureFive documents, constantly confused. Which one the law actually requires.