Short answer: you need a SWMS for every job that includes high risk construction work, but you don’t have to start from scratch each time. You can reuse a SWMS as a template, as long as you review it and make it fit each new site before work starts.
When a job needs a SWMS
A SWMS is only legally required when the job includes high risk construction work. There are 18 types. The common ones for tradies are:
- a risk of someone falling more than 2 metres (roofs, ladders, scaffold edges)
- working on or near live electrical installations or services
- working where powered mobile plant is moving (excavators, bobcats, forklifts, cranes, concrete pumps)
- trenches or shafts deeper than 1.5 metres
- disturbing, or likely disturbing, asbestos
- demolishing anything load-bearing
- working next to a road or other traffic corridor in use
- tilt-up or precast concrete
- confined spaces
See all 18 in our SWMS in Australia guide.
When a job doesn’t need a SWMS
If none of the 18 apply, a SWMS isn’t legally required. You still have to manage the risks, though. A quick Risk Assessment (some call it a JSA) or Take 5 is usually the right tool for lower-risk work. Many builders also ask for a SWMS on every job anyway, so check what the principal contractor wants before you turn up.
Reusing a SWMS the right way
Safety regulators allow a generic SWMS for work you do regularly, but it must be reviewed and revised for each new job and workplace before work starts. Before each job, ask:
- Is the site different? Access, heights, ground conditions, overhead power, traffic.
- Is there other work going on around us, such as plant, other trades or the public?
- Is the crew different, and have they been through the SWMS?
- Has anything changed since last time, like new equipment, a new method or the weather?
- Does the principal contractor have a copy for this job?
As we tell our clients: don’t call it generic, call it a template you make specific to each site and task.
Review it during the job too
A SWMS isn’t set-and-forget. If the work changes, controls change or something isn’t working, stop when it’s safe, review the SWMS and brief the crew on the update.
Not sure what you need? Talk to a real person
We talk tradie, not acronyms. Give us a call and we’ll tell you what your business actually needs.
General information based on the model Work Health and Safety laws used across most of Australia. It isn’t legal advice. Victoria uses its own OHS laws with very similar SWMS rules, so check the detail for your state.