Livestock Yard / Race Work SWMS
SWMS template for livestock yard / race work. Covers Cattle yards, race, loading ramp. 8-state AU coverage, CIH-reviewed editable DOCX, available as an instant download.
SWMS variants reference your state’s WHS legislation. Instant download after payment.
Livestock yard and race work involves moving, drafting, loading and restraining cattle through fixed yards, forcing pens, races and loading ramps — tasks that combine large-animal unpredictability with confined infrastructure, elevated working surfaces and biological exposure. Under WHS Regulation 2025 and the model Managing Risks to Health and Safety at the Workplace provisions, any task with reasonably foreseeable risk of crush injury, zoonotic infection or musculoskeletal harm requires a documented risk control process before work commences. This Safe Work Method Statement is mandatory for PCBUs operating cattle yards because the combined hazards — animal force, manual handling, sharps, dust and confined laneways — exceed the threshold for routine verbal toolbox coverage. The SWMS sets out hazard identification, hierarchy-based controls, consultation evidence and sign-on records that satisfy regulator inspection and inform every worker, contractor and visitor entering the yard system.
Hazards identified
7 hazards covered, sorted by priority.
Severe thoracic, pelvic or limb crush injuries; rib fractures; internal organ damage requiring emergency surgical intervention
Fractures, soft-tissue trauma, dental injuries and concussion from hoof or head strike to legs, torso or face
Chronic Q fever fatigue syndrome, hepatic and renal failure, gastrointestinal illness and notifiable disease reporting obligations
Lumbar disc injury, rotator cuff tears and chronic musculoskeletal disorders triggering workers compensation claims
Sprains, fractures and falls from height into the race exposing workers to animal-strike compounding injury
Acute respiratory irritation, occupational asthma exacerbation and increased Coxiella burnetii transmission risk via airborne route
Self-inoculation with vaccine, bacterial infection, bloodborne pathogen exposure and accidental injection of veterinary product
Control measures
Hierarchy-of-controls order: elimination → substitution → isolation → engineering → administrative → PPE.
- 1Elimination — Eliminate manual entry to the forcing pen by installing remote-operated bugle and sliding gate systems so workers never share confined space with cattle under flight pressure.
- 2Elimination — Remove repeat handling by consolidating animal health treatments into a single yarding event with vet-coordinated workflow, eliminating duplicate exposure to crush and kick hazards.
- 3Substitution — Substitute restraint head-bail with a hydraulic squeeze crush incorporating side access and parallel squeeze, replacing legacy manual scissor crushes that demand worker proximity to flanks.
- 4Engineering — Install curved Bud Williams-style race, solid-sided forcing pen and non-slip grooved concrete with 1:10 maximum loading-ramp grade per AS 5727 livestock handling design principles.
- 5Engineering — Fit catwalks with compliant handrails, kickplates and self-closing gates above the race; provide air-assisted gate operation to remove manual gate-shouldering loads.
- 6Administrative — Conduct documented pre-start SWMS sign-on covering animal temperament, weather, throughput targets and emergency extraction; rotate workers off the race every 90 minutes to manage fatigue.
- 7Administrative — Implement Q fever vaccination screening and certification register before any worker enters yards, with exclusion of unvaccinated personnel from high-aerosol tasks per Australian Immunisation Handbook.
- 8Administrative — Establish sharps protocol with single-handed re-sheathing devices, designated sharps bins at the crush, and immediate incident reporting for any needlestick to occupational health.
- 9PPE — Issue steel-capped boots with metatarsal guards, impact-rated shin guards, P2 respirators for dry-dust drafting, nitrile gloves for obstetric/sharps work and eye protection during dehorning or dosing.
- 10PPE — Provide laundered washable overalls, dedicated yard footwear and on-site decontamination wash station so contaminated clothing never enters living quarters, controlling zoonotic take-home risk.
Applicable Codes of Practice
Establishes the hierarchy of control duty and consultation process that underpins every hazard entry and control selection in this SWMS.
Specifies race radii, ramp gradients, gate clearances and catwalk dimensions used to engineer out crush and fall hazards in cattle yards.
Triggers the documented manual-task risk assessment for gate handling, calf restraint and repetitive drafting movements identified in this SWMS.
Defines pre-exposure screening and vaccination duty for workers handling cattle, directly informing the zoonotic administrative controls and worker register.
High-Risk Construction Work triggered
Drafting and loading cattle through a confined race places workers within strike and pin-point distance of half-tonne animals against fixed steel infrastructure.
Close-contact handling, aerosolised manure dust and obstetric work create direct Q fever, leptospirosis and cryptosporidium transmission pathways for all yard workers.
Repeated gate operation, calf restraint, tag application and head-bail closures over multi-hour yardings meet the sustained-force and repetition manual-task thresholds.
PCBU must consult workers, document the SWMS, retain records for the statutory period and produce on regulator request; penalties for failure are substantial and indexed, with the current maximum following the prevailing WHS schedule.
Who this is for
- →Cattle station managers and yard supervisors
- →Livestock contractors and mustering crew leads
- →Saleyard and feedlot operations PCBUs
- →Rural veterinary practices and pregnancy-testing contractors
What you receive
- ✓Editable DOCX template — Microsoft Word compatible
- ✓State-specific WHS legislation schedule (NSW/VIC/QLD/SA/WA/TAS/NT/ACT)
- ✓Hazard register with risk ratings + hierarchy-of-control mapping
- ✓Worker sign-on register, pre-start checklist, and incident escalation flow
Worked example
At a 600-head weaning draft on a northern beef enterprise, the leading hand opens the shift by tabling this SWMS at the yard-side pre-start brief. Five workers — two experienced stockmen, a backpacker on her second week, the station vet and a NLIS tagging contractor — gather at the crush. The leading hand walks the team through each of the seven hazards, pausing on Q fever exposure to confirm the backpacker's vaccination certificate is sighted and logged; without it, she is reassigned to the drafting computer outside the dust zone. The team identifies that overnight rain has left the loading ramp slick, so they activate the administrative control to spread sawdust and reduce loading speed to single-file. Each worker signs the SWMS register, noting their assigned position and the agreed emergency extraction signal — three sharp whistle blasts. Mid-morning, a fractious bull repeatedly charges the forcing pen gate; the leading hand pauses work, reopens the SWMS at the crush hazard, and the team agrees to substitute the manual bugle for the hydraulic sliding gate on the remaining cohort. The change is annotated on the SWMS, re-signed by all present, and work resumes. At shift end the document, sign-on sheet and amendment note are filed in the station's WHS records, ready for regulator inspection or insurer audit.
Related legislation
- WHS Act 2011 (model)
- WHS Regulation 2025
- Managing the Risks of Plant in Rural Workplaces CoP; AS 2789 — Quad bikes