Arborist Powerline Clearance Pruning SWMS
SWMS variants reference your state’s WHS legislation. Instant download after payment.
Powerline clearance pruning is electrical work performed with a chainsaw at height, and the industry's fatality record reflects exactly that. The conductor is live, it is uninsulated in most distribution configurations, and it does not need to be touched to kill: a limb, a rope, a pole saw, a chip of green timber, a wet climbing line or the arborist's own body can bridge the gap. **Green vegetation conducts.** The tree is not an insulator, the bark is not an insulator, and a rope soaked with sap or rain is not an insulator. Only a person **authorised by the network operator**, working to the operator's approach distances, may work within the vicinity of a powerline — and the approach distance is measured to the nearest part of the worker, the tool, the rope or the limb, not to the arborist's feet.
**The failure that kills bystanders rather than arborists is a conductor brought down by a falling limb.** A limb landing across two conductors bridges them; a limb that breaks a conductor drops a live wire onto the ground, a fence, a footpath, a vehicle or the chipper. The ground around a downed conductor is energised in a gradient — **step potential** — and a person who walks toward it to help completes a circuit between their feet. Every limb is therefore rigged and lowered rather than dropped when a conductor is anywhere in the fall path, and the exclusion zone is set for a downed conductor, not for a falling branch. Authored for New South Wales. Regulator: SafeWork NSW.
Hazards identified
14 hazards covered, sorted by priority.
Electrocution — green vegetation and wet rope conduct; the tree is not an insulator
A live conductor on the ground, the footpath, a fence or a vehicle
Electrocution of anyone who WALKS toward a downed conductor — the ground is energised in a gradient
Electrocution of the operator and anyone touching the machine
Fall from height during climbing, positioning or cutting
Severe laceration, made worse by being at height on a rope
Fatal entanglement — the worker is drawn into the feed rollers
Crush or impact injury to ground crew or public beneath the cut
Collapse of an unsound or storm-damaged tree under the climber or the rigging load
Fatal injury from a vehicle entering the work area, drop zone or chipper position
Injury to a pedestrian, resident or child inside an inadequately barricaded zone
Uncontrolled limb release under a dynamic load several times its static weight
Wind moving limbs into conductors; rain making ropes and vegetation conductive
Hearing loss and vibration injury over a full shift of saw and chipper work
Control measures
Hierarchy-of-controls order: elimination → substitution → isolation → engineering → administrative → PPE.
- 1Have the network operator de-energise, isolate and earth the line, or insulate or cover the conductors, wherever the work cannot be done outside the approach distance — de-energisation is the control and everything else is a compromise.
- 2Observe the network operator's approach distances measured to the NEAREST part of the worker, tool, rope or limb — not to the arborist's feet — and confirm the line's voltage rather than assuming it.
- 3Permit only a person authorised by the network operator to work within the vicinity of a powerline, with a dedicated safety observer whose only task is watching clearance and who can stop the work.
- 4Do not work in rain or with wet ropes — water and sap conduct — and treat conductors as moving targets in wind, because the clearance measured in still air is not the clearance in a gust.
- 5Rig and lower EVERY limb under control whenever a conductor is anywhere in the fall or swing path, in pieces small enough to control, with rigging points above the cut and away from the line.
- 6Assess the fall AND swing path for every cut including the limb's rotation and rebound, and set the exclusion zone for a DOWNED CONDUCTOR rather than for a falling branch.
- 7Brief every worker that nobody walks toward a downed conductor: shuffle or hop away with both feet together, never take a step, never touch a person in contact, and treat fences, vehicles, wet ground and the chipper as energised.
- 8Assess the full working envelope of any EWP against every conductor including service lines to premises, with a dedicated observer for the boom, and never tram with the boom raised near a line.
- 9Use two independent points of attachment during cutting, select anchors in sound wood assessed for the dynamic load, and have an aerial rescue plan and a trained rescuer on the ground BEFORE the climber leaves the ground.
- 10Assess the tree for structural soundness before any person leaves the ground — a storm-damaged tree near a line is not a climbing job — and change the method rather than proceeding carefully.
- 11Feed the chipper butt-first and step away; never follow material in, never push a piece through, and keep the feed control bar and emergency stop functional and never bypassed.
- 12Install a traffic guidance scheme to AS 1742.3 before work begins where the work area or drop zone extends into a carriageway or footpath, with the drop zone, chipper, EWP and ground crew all inside the protected area.
- 13Ensure all workers hold a current White Card (CPCCWHS1001) where on a construction site, together with network operator authorisation, arboricultural competency, aerial rescue training and traffic control competency as applicable.
- 14Consult workers on WHS matters affecting them per Section 47 of the WHS Act 2011 (NSW), record the consultation, and review whenever the network, the site, the method or the authorisation changes, after any incident, or at minimum every 12 months.
Applicable Codes of Practice
The benchmark for approach distances to energised overhead lines, de-energisation and the control of electrical risk near the network.
The benchmark for fall control during climbing and EWP work, and for the aerial rescue arrangements that must exist before a climber leaves the ground.
The benchmark for the chipper — feed roller controls, the emergency stop bar and the prohibition on reaching into the feed — and for EWP use.
The arboricultural standard for pruning method, cut placement and tree health, applied within the constraints of the clearance requirement.
Safe use of an EWP including set-up, ground assessment, platform loading and rescue arrangements.
The traffic guidance scheme required where the work area, the drop zone or the chipper is in or adjacent to a live carriageway or footpath.
High-Risk Construction Work triggered
The entire activity is carried out within the vicinity of energised, uninsulated overhead conductors, and the vegetation, ropes and tools being handled are all capable of conducting to them.
Access is by climbing or elevated work platform into the crown of a tree well above 2 m, and cutting is carried out from a rope or a basket.
Street and park trees sit in road reserves, so the work area, the drop zone and the chipper position routinely extend into a live carriageway or footpath.
Powerline clearance pruning is high risk construction work under Section 291 of the WHS Regulation 2025 (NSW), so a SWMS must be prepared before work commences (Section 299), kept readily accessible and reviewed as necessary (Section 302). Part 4.7 governs approach distances to energised overhead lines and prohibits energised electrical work at **Division 4, sections 154 and 157** unless de-energisation is not reasonably practicable — convenience is never a valid reason. Separately, the **Electricity Supply Act 1995 (NSW)** and the network operator's vegetation management requirements mean that vegetation work near the network may only be carried out by persons **authorised by the network operator**, to the operator's approach distances and procedures; an unauthorised arborist working near a line is in breach regardless of how competent they are. The primary duty of care at Section 19 of the WHS Act 2011 (NSW) extends to members of the public in the street and to adjacent occupants — a conductor brought down onto a footpath is foreseeable. An electrical contact, a downed conductor, a fall from height or a chipper entanglement is a notifiable incident under Sections 35–38, notifiable to the network operator as well, and is prosecuted as a Category 1 or Category 2 offence with the most serious breaches carrying imprisonment for individuals.
Who this is for
- →Vegetation management contractors carrying out clearance pruning around distribution, low-voltage and service lines under contract to a network operator or a council.
- →Authorised arborists and their ground crews working within the vicinity of energised overhead conductors.
- →Local councils managing street and park trees within the statutory clearance envelope around electricity infrastructure.
- →Arboricultural businesses tendering for powerline clearance work and needing to demonstrate a compliant documented method.
- →WHS managers and HSE advisors responsible for electrical risk, aerial rescue, chipper safety and public exclusion in street tree work.
What you receive
- ✓A complete, editable Safe Work Method Statement authored for New South Wales — the WHS Act 2011 (NSW), the WHS Regulation 2025 (NSW), the Electricity Supply Act 1995 (NSW) and SafeWork NSW as regulator.
- ✓14 identified hazards with initial and residual risk ratings on a 5x5 matrix, each with controls ordered through the full hierarchy — eliminate, engineer, administrative, PPE.
- ✓The conductor contact control set built on the fact that green vegetation and wet rope conduct — the tree is not an insulator — with approach distances measured to the nearest part of the worker, tool, rope or limb.
- ✓The step and touch potential control set: nobody walks toward a downed conductor, shuffle out with both feet together, and the exclusion zone sized for a downed wire rather than a falling branch.
- ✓An explicit statement that PPE is NOT a control for conductor contact — network operator authorisation, de-energisation and approach distance are.
- ✓Chipper controls that prohibit cuffed gloves, lanyards and drawstrings at the feed — the PPE that protects elsewhere is what drags a person in.
- ✓Aerial rescue requirements: the plan and a trained rescuer on the ground BEFORE the climber leaves it, because suspension deteriorates a casualty in minutes.
- ✓The full high risk construction work breakdown — energised electrical, falls over 2 m and road or traffic corridor — with the reason each category applies, plus a PPE matrix, emergency procedures and a worker sign-on table.
- ✓Microsoft Word (.docx) format, unbranded, editable fields for PCBU, ABN, site, prepared by, reviewed by, approved by and review date.
Worked example
A crew is clearing a camphor laurel off an 11 kV line in a suburban street. The climber is authorised, the observer is watching, and the approach distances are being kept — right up until a limb they judged small enough to drop rotates on the hinge as it goes, swings about 700 mm further than anyone expected, and lays across two phases. The line does not break. It arcs, and it stays up, and the tree the climber is tied into is now part of the circuit. Down the street the ground worker, who has done nothing wrong at all, starts walking toward the chipper to hit the stop — across ground that is now energised in a gradient — and the current goes up one leg and down the other. Neither of those people made a reckless decision. This SWMS controls both: every limb is rigged and lowered rather than dropped whenever a conductor is anywhere in the fall OR swing path, the swing and rotation are assessed and not just the fall, and every worker is briefed that if a conductor comes down you shuffle out with both feet together and you never take a step.
Related legislation
- Work Health and Safety Act 2011 (NSW) — Section 19 primary duty of care, owed to workers and to the public in the street; Section 47 consultation; Sections 35–38 notifiable incidents.
- Work Health and Safety Regulation 2025 (NSW) — Section 291 (high risk construction work) and Section 299 (preparation and content of a SWMS), with review under Section 302.
- Work Health and Safety Regulation 2025 (NSW) — Part 4.7 (electrical): approach distances to energised overhead lines and the prohibition on energised electrical work at Division 4, sections 154 and 157.
- Electricity Supply Act 1995 (NSW) and the network operator's vegetation management requirements — the statutory clearance envelope and the requirement that vegetation work near the network be carried out by persons authorised by the network operator.
- AS 4373 (Pruning of amenity trees), AS 2550.10 (Safe use — Elevating work platforms), AS 1742.3 (Traffic control for works on roads) and AS/NZS 1891.1 (fall-arrest systems).
Frequently asked questions
Our arborists are qualified. Isn't that enough to work near a line?
No. Arboricultural competency and network authorisation are different things. Under the Electricity Supply Act 1995 (NSW) and the network operator's vegetation management requirements, only a person authorised by the network operator may carry out vegetation work within the vicinity of the network, working to that operator's approach distances and procedures. A highly competent arborist without that authorisation is in breach regardless of skill — and the approach distances are the operator's to set, not the contractor's to judge. Where the work cannot be done outside the approach distance, the operator de-energises, isolates, insulates or covers the line.
Can't we just wear insulated gloves and boots?
No, and this is the most dangerous misconception in the trade. PPE is not a control for conductor contact. The voltages on a distribution line are not what electrical gloves are rated for in this context, contact is usually made by a tool, a rope or a limb rather than a hand, and step potential kills through the feet from ground the boots are standing on. The controls are network operator authorisation, de-energisation, and separation measured to the nearest part of the worker, tool, rope or limb. This SWMS says so explicitly in the PPE matrix, precisely so a later revision does not quietly 'improve' it by adding gloves.
Why rig every limb? Some are small enough to drop.
Because a limb does not fall the way it looks like it will. It rotates on the hinge, it swings, it rebounds off what it hits, and the distance it ends up travelling is routinely further than the fall path anyone assessed. A limb across two conductors bridges them; a limb that breaks one puts a live wire on the footpath. When a conductor is anywhere in the fall OR swing path, the limb is rigged and lowered — and the exclusion zone is sized for a downed conductor, not for a falling branch, because those are very different distances.
Someone is in contact with a live conductor. What do we do?
You do not touch them. That instinct is what makes the second casualty, and it is the reason this SWMS states it in the emergency procedures rather than assuming it is obvious. Keep everybody at least 8 m clear and further on wet ground, call 000 and the network operator immediately, and do not attempt rescue until the operator confirms the line is de-energised and earthed. A line that appears dead can re-energise automatically — reclosers do exactly that. If you are inside the zone yourself, shuffle or hop out with both feet together and never take a step.