The short answer
If your construction work falls into one of the high risk categories in the WHS Regulations, a safe work method statement (SWMS) must be prepared before the work starts. The business carrying out the work is responsible for it. In practice that's usually the builder for their own workers, or the subcontractor for their crew.
Work of a minor nature may not need one. Safe Work Australia publishes guidance on what counts as minor work. Check it rather than assuming your job qualifies.
The 18 types of high risk construction work
Under the model WHS Regulations (regulation 291), construction work is high risk if it involves:
- A risk of a person falling more than 2 metres (3 metres for residential construction in the NT)
- Work on a telecommunications tower
- Demolition of a load-bearing structure
- Work likely to involve disturbing asbestos
- Structural alterations or repairs that need 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 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 elements
- Work on, in or next to a road, railway, shipping lane or other traffic corridor in use by traffic other than pedestrians
- Work in an area where powered mobile plant is moving
- Work in an area with artificial extremes of temperature
- Work in or near water or other liquid where there's a risk of drowning
- Diving work
A single SWMS can cover more than one of these if the job involves several, for example roof work next to live overhead services.
Where the states differ
| State or territory | Law that applies | What to know |
|---|---|---|
| Western Australia | Work Health and Safety (General) Regulations 2022 | Based on the national model. WorkSafe WA publishes its own SWMS information sheet and template. |
| South Australia | Work Health and Safety Regulations 2012 (SA) | The fall threshold dropped from 3 metres to 2 metres on 1 July 2026. Work with a fall risk above 2 metres now needs a SWMS. |
| Victoria | Occupational Health and Safety Regulations 2017 | Victoria doesn't use the model WHS laws. WorkSafe Victoria lists 19 types of high risk construction work (tunnels are listed separately). The fall threshold is 2 metres. |
| Northern Territory | Work Health and Safety (National Uniform Legislation) Regulations 2011 | From July 2026 the fall threshold for residential construction is 3 metres. It stays at 2 metres for other construction work. |
| NSW, Queensland, Tasmania, ACT | WHS Regulations based on the national model | Check your local regulator for templates and any state-specific guidance. |
What the SWMS has to cover
- Which parts of the work are high risk construction work
- The hazards and the risks to health and safety
- The control measures you'll use
- How those controls will be put in place, monitored and reviewed
Keep it short enough to use on site. It doesn't need to cover routine hazards like noise or manual tasks, which are managed through your general risk management. Pictures and diagrams are fine, and often help crews who don't read English as a first language.
Australia / JSA & SWMS drafts
Talk it through instead of starting from a blank form.
Explain the job out loud and SOPmate drafts an editable SWMS you can check with your crew.
iPhone and iPad. Not on iPhone? Email support@sopmate.ai to hear about Android.
Before work starts and while it's running
Prepare it with the crew
Involve the workers doing the job, leading hands and any health and safety representative. The people doing the work usually know the hazards best.
Give it to the principal contractor
Projects of $250,000 or more must have a principal contractor, who has to take reasonable steps to get a SWMS before any high risk construction work starts.
Follow it
If work isn't being done the way the SWMS says, stop it immediately or as soon as it's safe to. Only restart when it can be done in line with the SWMS.
Revise it when things change
Review and revise the SWMS when control measures change, and after any stoppage, so it reflects the safest method that's reasonably practicable.
Keep it
Keep the SWMS, including every revised version, at the workplace or where it can be produced quickly, until the work is finished. Electronic copies are fine. If there's a notifiable incident related to the work, keep it for at least 2 years from the date of the incident.
Fines and penalties if you don't have one
Skipping the SWMS, or not following it, is an offence in its own right. You don't need an injury on site to be fined.
| What goes wrong | What you can face |
|---|---|
| No SWMS before high risk construction work starts, or work not done the way the SWMS says | Under the model WHS Regulations (regulations 299 and 300), up to $6,000 for an individual and $30,000 for a company, per offence. NSW and Queensland set these in penalty units that rise each year, so the current figure there is higher. |
| Smaller breaches, such as no copy on site, not reviewing it, or not giving it to the principal contractor | On-the-spot fines (infringement or penalty notices) issued by an inspector without going to court. Victoria added an on-the-spot fine for failing to keep a SWMS in July 2021. |
| An inspector finds high risk work under way with no usable SWMS | An improvement or prohibition notice. A prohibition notice stops the work until the risk is dealt with, which costs you days on site even if no fine is issued. |
| Someone is seriously hurt or killed | A missing or ignored SWMS is strong evidence that risks weren't managed. For a company, breaching the main safety duties carries 2026-27 maximum fines of $500,000 to more than $800,000 at the lowest category, depending on the state, and millions plus possible jail at the highest. Most jurisdictions now also have industrial manslaughter offences. |
Victoria's penalties sit under separate legislation and are set in penalty units. Check your state regulator for the current dollar figures, because most are indexed every financial year.
Common mistakes
- Using a generic SWMS from the internet without changing it for the site. A SWMS has to describe the actual job.
- Treating a JSA as a substitute. A JSA can sit alongside a SWMS, but it doesn't replace one for high risk construction work. See JSA vs JHA vs SWMS.
- Writing it once and filing it. If the method or controls change on site, the SWMS has to change too.
- Leaving the crew out. Workers have to be consulted, and they need to know what's in it before they start.