SWMS explained: the 18 high-risk construction work categories and what a good SWMS contains
A safe work method statement is required before high-risk construction work starts. Most builders have plenty of SWMS; far fewer have ones that describe the actual job. Here is what the law requires and how to make a SWMS useful.
7 min read
Topic
SWMS
Articles and news about SWMS for Australian builders.
SWMS explained: the 18 high-risk construction work categories and what a good SWMS contains
A safe work method statement is required before high-risk construction work starts. Most builders have plenty of SWMS; far fewer have ones that describe the actual job. Here is what the law requires and how to make a SWMS useful.
7 min read
Electrical safety on building sites: temporary power, RCDs, leads, and buried and overhead services
Electric shock remains a real risk on building sites, from damaged leads and missing RCDs to excavators hitting buried cables and booms touching overhead lines. The controls are well known and cheap. Here they are.
7 min read
Plant and people: traffic management on residential building sites
Concrete trucks reversing down driveways, excavators on tight blocks, crane trucks near power lines, kids walking past the site on the way to school. Traffic management on a house site is a real hazard, not a formality.
7 min read
Asbestos in renovations: what builders must do before the first cut
Most Australian homes built before the 1990s contain asbestos somewhere. On a renovation, the builder is the person most likely to disturb it. Where to look, who can remove it, and the steps that keep workers and families safe.
8 min read
Falls from height: why they still kill builders, and the controls that actually work on houses
Most falls on residential sites happen from roofs, frames, ladders and unprotected voids, often at modest heights. What the law requires, and the controls that prevent them on real jobs.
9 min read
How to write a SWMS that stands up to an inspector
An inspector does not read your SWMS to learn how to build. They read it to test whether the people on site knew the sequence, the controls and who owned them. Most failures are documentation failures, not trade failures.
10 min read