An editable Safe Work Method Statement template covering all 19 high-risk construction work activities under WHS Regulation 291. Free. Or skip the Word doc and let Burgy build one for you in minutes.
Free PDF. Or use Burgy's AI-assisted SWMS builder — drafts hazards and controls in minutes.
Covers everything a compliant Australian SWMS needs — site-ready fields, the right tables, and the regulatory references.
The free template gets you started. Burgy's SWMS builder gets you finished — faster, signed, stored, and always audit-ready.
Download the .docx, fill it in for each job, print and sign. Free forever. Works fine for the first few jobs — gets harder as the paperwork piles up and document versions multiply.
Tell Burgy what the job is. The app drafts hazards and controls based on your task library, you review, your crew signs on their phone, and the SWMS is stored against the job for the audit trail.
A Safe Work Method Statement (SWMS) is a legal document required under the WHS Regulations for any of the 19 defined high-risk construction work activities. It identifies the work being done, the hazards, the control measures, and the people responsible — and must be signed by the workers before work starts.
A SWMS is required before starting any of the 19 high-risk construction work activities listed in WHS Regulation 291. This includes working at heights over 2m, demolition, excavation deeper than 1.5m, working near live electrical, confined space work, and others.
Yes. The template is free for any Australian construction business or contractor. You can also use Burgy's AI-assisted SWMS builder to generate one in minutes with hazards and controls pre-populated for your specific job.
A SWMS must include: the high-risk construction work being undertaken, the hazards arising from that work, the control measures to manage those hazards, how the controls will be implemented and monitored, who is responsible for the work, and a record of worker consultation and signatures.
A generic SWMS template gives you a starting structure, but each SWMS must be specific to the site, the job, and the conditions. Generic SWMS that get reused without site-specific hazards and controls are the most common reason a SWMS gets pulled up in an audit.
A SWMS is legally required for the 19 high-risk construction activities. A JSA (Job Safety Analysis) is a broader risk assessment tool that can be used for any task. SWMS is regulated; JSA is best-practice. Many sites do both — a JSA at the job level and a SWMS for any high-risk component.
Burgy builds SWMS from your task description in minutes — and keeps every signed copy in one place for audits.
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