Excavation & Underground Utilities SWMS Templates

Yes. Under WHS Regulation 2025 Schedule 3 and Regulation 291, any work in or near a trench or shaft with an excavated depth greater than 1.5 metres is classified as high-risk construction work (HRCW). A SWMS must be prepared, available at the workplace, and complied with before work commences. The Model Code of Practice: Excavation Work also triggers ground assessment, shoring or benching, and rescue planning duties regardless of whether the trench reaches the 1.5 metre threshold.

Yes — each high-risk activity requires its own task-specific SWMS because the hazards, controls and competencies differ. Horizontal directional drilling introduces inadvertent returns, strike-alert systems and pressurised fluid hazards under WHS Reg Schedule 3 Category 13 (powered mobile plant), while open-cut excavation focuses on trench collapse, edge stability and service strike. Combining them into one document typically fails regulator review because controls cannot be traced to specific tasks as required by Regulation 299.

Before Mechanical Excavation, the PCBU must lodge a Before You Dig Australia (BYDA, formerly DBYD) referral to obtain asset plans from utility owners. The Model Code of Practice: Excavation Work requires plans to be reviewed, services potholed using non-destructive methods (vacuum or hand excavation), and physically marked before mechanical plant is used. AS 5488.1 Quality Level B or A information is generally required within 500 mm of identified services to satisfy the duty to eliminate or minimise service strike risk.

Shoring uses engineered supports (hydraulic shores, trench shields, sheet piles) to prevent collapse; benching cuts horizontal steps into trench walls; battering slopes the walls back to a safe angle of repose. The Model Code of Practice: Excavation Work requires a competent person to assess ground conditions and select an appropriate method. For trenches over 1.5 metres, an engineered shoring design under AS 4678 principles is generally required unless soil is stable rock or battered to the natural angle of repose.

The technical content is largely harmonised because WHS Regulation 2025, Schedule 3 HRCW categories, and the Model Code of Practice: Excavation Work apply nationally — except in Victoria, which operates under OHS Regulations 2017 with equivalent High Risk Construction Work provisions. Western Australia adopted the model WHS framework in 2022. State-specific differences typically relate to notification thresholds, regulator details and dial-before-you-dig referral processes, which the SWMS should reference based on the jurisdiction of the work site.