Excavation / Earthmoving WHS Documents in New South Wales
Written to New South Wales legislation · delivered in about 4 minutes · free revision within 24h
A excavation / earthmoving starting on a New South Wales site is asked for a set of documents, not just a SWMS. This page covers the whole set: what each document is, who asks for it and when, and what happens if you turn up without it. SafeWork NSW is the regulator here and the Work Health and Safety Regulation 2025 (NSW) is the law each document has to be written against.
The WHS documents a excavation / earthmoving needs in New South Wales
- ✓ A site-specific SWMS for each high risk activity, cited to the Work Health and Safety Regulation 2025 (NSW) (WHS Regulation 2025 (NSW) s 299)
- ✓ A SWMS register indexing every document, version and review date
- ✓ High risk work licences and excavation / earthmoving trade licences recognised in New South Wales
- ✓ Safety Data Sheets for hazardous chemicals, and a chemical register
- ✓ Site induction record and daily sign-on / SWMS acknowledgement sheets
The SWMS a excavation / earthmoving usually needs
One SWMS per high risk construction work activity. The Trade SWMS Pack generates all of them, cited to New South Wales law:
- ✓ Trench excavation deeper than 1.5 m with shoring or benching
- ✓ Bulk excavation with excavator and truck movements
- ✓ Excavation near underground services (locate and pothole)
- ✓ Working near overhead powerlines
- ✓ Excavation adjacent to roads and traffic corridors
- ✓ Footing, pier and shaft excavation
- ✓ Backfilling and compaction with mobile plant
- ✓ Spotter and exclusion zone procedures around plant
The New South Wales law behind it
| Regulator | SafeWork NSW |
| Principal Act | Work Health and Safety Act 2011 (NSW) |
| Regulations | Work Health and Safety Regulation 2025 (NSW) |
| Duty to prepare a SWMS | WHS Regulation 2025 (NSW) s 299 |
| High risk construction work defined in | WHS Regulation 2025 (NSW) s 291 |
NSW remade its regulations as the WHS Regulation 2025, which commenced on 22 August 2025 and replaced the WHS Regulation 2017, so the current SWMS duties are cited as sections (s 299, s 291) rather than clauses.
Industrial manslaughter under the WHS Act 2011 (NSW) carries up to 25 years imprisonment for an individual and a $20 million fine for a body corporate; the offence commenced in 2024. That is the enforcement backdrop your WHS document set has to stand up to on a New South Wales site.
The hazards these documents have to control
A excavation / earthmoving SWMS in New South Wales is judged on whether it names and controls the hazards the trade actually meets:
- ⚠ Trench and excavation collapse
- ⚠ Underground service strikes
- ⚠ Overhead powerlines
- ⚠ Powered mobile plant near workers on foot
- ⚠ Traffic on adjacent roads
- ⚠ Water ingress
The high risk work that triggers a excavation / earthmoving's SWMS
- ✓ Work in or near a shaft or trench deeper than 1.5 m, or a tunnel
- ✓ Work in an area with movement of powered mobile plant
- ✓ Work on, in or adjacent to a road, railway or other traffic corridor in use
- ✓ Work on or near energised electrical installations or services
Every SWMS a excavation / earthmoving needs in New South Wales, in one go
The Trade SWMS Pack generates all 8 SWMS above from one questionnaire, cited to New South Wales law, plus the register, toolbox talks and sign-on sheets, for A$179.
See the Trade SWMS PackKeep exploring
Excavation / Earthmoving WHS documents (all states)Excavation / Earthmoving SWMS for NSWSWMS requirements by stateTrade SWMS Pack
Excavation / Earthmoving WHS documents in other states: