Do Queensland builders need a SWMS?
Short answer: yes, if any of your work is "high risk construction work". A SWMS (Safe Work Method Statement) is compulsory in Queensland before you start any of the 18 high-risk activities listed in the Work Health and Safety Regulation 2011 (Qld). On a normal house build that covers most of the job: anything over 2 m off the ground, trenches over 1.5 m deep, working near live power, demolition, asbestos. If you don't have one, you're breaking the law. If you have a generic one you've never read, you're barely better off.
Who has to prepare it
The duty sits with the PCBU (Person Conducting a Business or Undertaking). That's the legal name for you if you run a business, whether you're a company, a partnership or a sole trader with a ute and an ABN. Under regulation 299 the PCBU that carries out the high-risk work must make sure a SWMS is prepared before the work starts.
Every PCBU doing high-risk work has to have one. The head contractor doesn't cover the subbies, and the subbies don't cover the head contractor. If you're the principal contractor you have an extra job: WorkSafe Queensland says you must obtain the SWMS from your subcontractors before their high-risk work begins.
You're also expected to consult the blokes doing the work when you write it. A SWMS written in an office by someone who's never been on the roof is worth very little.
The 18 high-risk activities
Regulation 291 says construction work is "high risk" if it:
- involves a risk of a person falling more than 2 m
- is carried out on a telecommunication tower
- involves demolition of a load-bearing element or one related to the physical integrity of the structure
- involves, or is likely to involve, disturbing asbestos
- involves structural alterations or repairs needing temporary support to prevent collapse
- is carried out in or near a confined space
- is carried out in or near a shaft or trench deeper than 1.5 m, or a tunnel
- involves the use of explosives
- is carried out on or near pressurised gas distribution mains or piping
- is carried out on or near chemical, fuel or refrigerant lines
- is carried out on or near energised electrical installations or services
- is carried out in an area that may have a contaminated or flammable atmosphere
- involves tilt-up or precast concrete
- is carried out on, in or adjacent to a road, railway, shipping lane or other traffic corridor in use by traffic other than pedestrians
- is carried out in an area where there is any movement of powered mobile plant
- is carried out in an area with artificial extremes of temperature
- is carried out in or near water or other liquid with a risk of drowning
- involves diving work.
Roof framing, scaffold, a bobcat on site, a sewer trench, cutting into an old fibro wall. That's a standard Gold Coast reno. You need a SWMS for each of those tasks, not one document that says "construction" at the top.
What has to be in it
Regulation 299 sets the minimum. The SWMS must:
- identify the work that is high risk construction work
- state the hazards and the risks to health and safety from those hazards
- describe the control measures you'll use to manage the risks
- describe how those controls will be implemented, monitored and reviewed.
There's a catch for fall work. If the risk is a fall of more than 2 m and your only controls are admin controls or PPE (Personal Protective Equipment, like a harness), the SWMS has to spell out every control you considered before you settled on that. The regulator wants to see that you thought about edge protection or scaffold first and had a real reason not to use them.
WorkSafe Queensland also expects the document to carry the PCBU's name, address and ABN, the person responsible for implementing it, and on a construction project the principal contractor's name, the site address, the date it was prepared and the review date.
Keeping it, reviewing it, showing it
Keep the SWMS until the high-risk work is finished. If there's a notifiable incident, keep it for at least two years after that. Keep it on site or somewhere you can produce it quickly, because an inspector won't wait while you drive back to the office.
Review it whenever the job changes. New crane position, different scaffold, an extra storey the client added late. If the controls change, the SWMS changes. Then get the crew to sign the revised one.
Penalties
Not having a SWMS for high-risk work is an offence under regulation 299 with a maximum of 60 penalty units. Under the WHS Act 2011 (Qld) a penalty unit is $100, so that's up to $6,000 per breach. That's the small end.
The bigger risk is what happens when someone gets hurt and there was no SWMS. Then you're looking at the Act itself. Current maximums in Queensland are:
- Category 3 (breach of duty): up to $500,000 for a company, $100,000 for a PCBU or officer, $50,000 for an individual worker.
- Category 2 (breach exposing someone to risk of death or serious injury): up to $1.5 million for a company, $300,000 for a PCBU or officer, $150,000 for an individual.
- Category 1 (reckless or, since the 2024 amendments, negligent conduct): up to $3 million for a company, $600,000 and five years' jail for a PCBU or officer, $300,000 and five years for an individual.
- Industrial manslaughter: up to 20 years' jail for an individual, $10 million for a company. Since the 2024 changes it covers any person you owe a duty to, not just your own workers.
Those numbers are why I stopped treating the SWMS as paperwork. Write it properly, use it on site, and it's the document that shows you did the right thing.
Sources
- WHS Regulation 2011 (Qld) reg 291 – Meaning of high risk construction work
- WHS Regulation 2011 (Qld) reg 299 – Safe work method statement required for high risk construction work
- WorkSafe Queensland – Safe work method statements
- Safe Work Australia – Cross-jurisdictional table of maximum penalties (Aug 2025)
General information only — not legal advice. Laws and penalties change; check the current legislation or get advice for your own situation.