High risk construction work is defined by a list, and that list is the reason SWMS exist. If your work falls into any one of these 18 categories, a Safe Work Method Statement is required before it starts (WHS Regulations reg 291; in Victoria, reg 322 of the OHS Regulations 2017 covers materially the same work). Here is the whole list, in plain English.
The full list of 18 categories
- Risk of a person falling more than 2 metres - Work on a telecommunication tower - Demolition of a load-bearing structure - Work likely to disturb asbestos - Structural alterations or repairs that require temporary support to prevent collapse - Work in or near a confined space - Work in or near a shaft or trench deeper than 1.5 metres, or a tunnel - Use of explosives - Work on or near pressurised gas distribution 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 - Work on, in, or adjacent to a road, railway, or other traffic corridor in use - Work in an area with movement of powered mobile plant - Work in areas with artificial extremes of temperature - Work in or near water or other liquid with a risk of drowning - Diving work
Why these 18 and not others
These are the activities where the consequence of getting it wrong is death or serious injury, and where a documented method genuinely changes the outcome. Falls, trench collapse, asbestos, energised electrical, and powered mobile plant are consistently among the biggest causes of construction fatalities in Australia. The SWMS requirement forces the crew to think through the method, the hazards, and the controls before anyone starts, rather than working it out on the run.
The ones people miss
Most trades know the obvious triggers. The categories that catch people out are:
- • The 2 metre fall rule, because it sweeps in painters on trestles, tilers on balconies, and anyone on a ladder near an edge, not just roofers. See working at heights for what that SWMS has to cover.
- • Powered mobile plant movement, because a worker on foot near an excavator or forklift is in a high risk area even if their own task looks low risk
- • Traffic corridors, because work next to a live road or rail line counts, not only work on it
- • Temporary support, because propping during alterations is high risk work in its own right
One category is enough
You do not need several categories to trigger a SWMS. A single one is enough. And if a job hits more than one, for example roof work (falls) near overhead powerlines (energised electrical), the SWMS has to address every category that applies, not just the headline one. A category that appears nowhere in the work steps is the kind of gap a principal contractor's reviewer finds fast.
What the SWMS then has to do
For each category involved, the document has to name the hazard, rate the risk, and set out controls in the hierarchy of controls order: eliminate, substitute, isolate, engineering, administrative, then PPE last (reg 36). It also has to be site-specific, cite the right legislation for your state, and be signed on by the workers doing the work.
Work out which apply to your job
Not sure which of the 18 your job triggers? Use the SWMS checker to find out, read the what is a SWMS primer, or start from a free blank template. When you want the finished, site-specific document without the writing, generate one in minutes.