A Safe Work Method Statement (SWMS) is part of the legal framework for Australian state and territory WHS laws. It stems from the regulations that support the core WHS laws in each Australian state and territory. However, Safe Work Practices Statements are part of the legal framework of Australian state and territory WHS laws. A basic understanding of SWMS can help you and your team identify your obligations. A Safe Work Procedure Statement (SWMS) is a formal and often legal document that describes the specific requirements for performing a specific high-risk activity. A Safe Work Method Declaration is an important part of workplace safety and contributes to EHS training and regulatory compliance requirements. Remember to clearly identify any high-risk structures for which SWMS must be legally prepared, such as excavation depths greater than 1.5 meters or where there is a risk of falling. Without safe work practices, workers and supervisors would rely on their own intuition and potential bad habits to work. By reading and recognizing a prepared work method statement, each employee can read all the necessary safety requirements, including the necessary training and instructions they need before performing the work, as well as the preparation and control of the risks associated with each stage of the work. Under Australian health and safety regulations, the creation of an ESMS is a legal requirement for any construction project involving high-risk activities and must be prepared prior to the commencement of work on the project.

In addition, the SGGS needs to be updated and revised to reflect new high-risk activities that will be added to the project after the creation of the first WSMS. HRCW consists of 19 different types of work, such as working at height, digging, working near electrical equipment and working near telecommunication lines. One of the main objectives of an SMS is to ensure that the contractor has completed an HRDC risk assessment in the workplace they will be conducting and has prepared appropriate controls and policies in response to those risks. Therefore, it is not legally acceptable for contractors to use a generic EMS that contains only a list of the most common hazards. An FMS should be site and project specific. In the event of an incident or accident, this becomes extremely important. A company or business owner who has not provided their employees with a statement on how to work safely can find themselves in serious legal problems, which also makes storing SWMS and SWMS signatures critical. Different countries and legislators have different requirements for safety and SWMS, and not all companies explicitly refer to safe work methods declarations as safe working methods declarations. Sometimes they are called safe work practices and other similar names.

The final element of the purpose of a SWMS is the legal and compliance aspect of safe working method instructions. A declaration of safe working methods, duly recognised and signed by the workers engaged in this activity, allows a company to demonstrate that it has fulfilled its obligations (or at least some of its obligations as a company). They gave workers the instructions and training outlined in the SWMS, as well as an overview of the process accepted by the company. A declaration of safe work method is only required by law for work defined as « high-risk construction work ». The definition of « high-risk construction work » and the 18 activities that make it specifically high-risk are set out in the regulations of your specific state or territory. We have already written about high-risk construction work, a full list of work involving « high-risk construction work » can be found in the article « Guide for High-Risk Construction Workers SWMS ». A Safe Statement of Work Procedures (SWMS) is a legal document that allows everyone involved in certain high-risk construction work to fully understand the hazards and risks associated with the task and to provide controls to manage the risks associated with those hazards. SMS is also referred to by other terms, including statements of work procedures, safe work procedures, SWM or WMS. Yes, indeed! The government has only determined what you need to do to stay compliant with the law. There is nothing to say that you cannot develop and implement systems at the same or higher level for activities that are not covered by the regulations. In fact, Safe Work Australia itself says in the November 2013 Construction Code of Practice; Piling up your paper or PDF work method declarations in a physical file is neither practical nor organized.

Employees can`t open the SWMS when needed, and you risk losing or misplacing important information and signatures. The problem with these good intentions is that they are often hampered or limited by poor controls and documentation processes. Managing secure work method instructions can be a long and challenging undertaking for organizations of all sizes, and this administrative burden and the problem of effective SWMS communication can impact security. An ESMS must be site-specific and available to workers, supervisors and others in the workplace so that they can understand the hazards, risks and safety measures that must be put in place to ensure the safety of workers and others. The ESMS should be kept and made available at the workplace where the high-risk construction work is carried out and until the completion of the work to which it relates. An ESMS can also be stored electronically if it is easily accessible to workers. In other words, you must continue to manage health and safety risks by eliminating or minimizing risks in all activities you perform. How you manage these risks should also be defined by some form of documented information. Whether it is a standard operating procedure (SOP), integration into a broader safety management plan (SMS) or in the same format as a Statement of Safe Work Practices (SWMS) is the responsibility of the person performing the controls. The review process should be conducted in consultation with other PCUs, workers (including contractors and subcontractors) and relevant health and safety officers on the working groups. A generic WSMS can be created and used for high-risk construction work that is performed on a regular basis.

Nevertheless, as with most things in life, safety doesn`t stop at a safe way of working. Safety management in construction projects is all about having a thorough understanding of your safety measures and actual performance.