Footing & Foundation Concreting SWMS
NSW — Footing & Foundation Concreting. Full task scope, hazards and controls to be authored to Phase 1 standard.
SWMS variants reference your state’s WHS legislation. Instant download after payment.
Footing and foundation concreting is the excavation, reinforcement and pouring of footings, pad and strip foundations. It is high risk construction work under the WHS Regulation because the footing excavation can exceed 1.5 m in depth, temporary support may be required to prevent the excavation collapsing, and the work is carried out with the movement of powered mobile plant — excavators, pumps and agitators (s291), so a SWMS is mandatory (s299). The central hazard is the plant-and-excavation interface: an excavator can strike a worker or roll over at the excavation edge, and the excavation wall can collapse where it is dug in unstable soil without battering or shoring. Where the excavation passes 1.5 m the collapse risk is acute and a person in an unsupported trench cannot self-rescue. Layered on are the concrete-material hazards (alkaline burns at pH 12-13, spatter to the eyes), formwork and reinforcement handling including impalement on projecting starter bars during a fall, and weather effects on the pour. The SWMS controls the excavation support, services location before digging, plant separation, reinforcement capping and concrete-contact PPE. It supports the engineered footing design to AS 3600, AS 2870 and AS 3798 and does not replace the engineer's specification. It is supplied in eight jurisdiction editions, each citing its own Act, Regulation and regulator.
Hazards identified
8 hazards covered, sorted by priority.
Crush fatality or burial of a worker in the excavation (central HRCW)
Struck-by or crush fatality
Crush fatality and plant falling into the excavation
Sudden collapse onto workers placing steel or concrete
Electrocution, gas release or flooding
Penetrating injury from uncapped reinforcement
Alkaline chemical burns to skin and cornea
Wall softening/collapse or loss of pump control
Control measures
Hierarchy-of-controls order: elimination → substitution → isolation → engineering → administrative → PPE.
- 1Elimination — Use screw piles or precast footing systems where the design allows so deep open excavation is avoided
- 2Substitution — Substitute a trench shield or battered excavation for an unsupported vertical face, and pump placement for barrowing in the excavation
- 3Engineering — Batter the excavation to the soil class where it exceeds 1.5 m (Type A 0.75H:1V, Type B 1H:1V, Type C 1.5H:1V) or shore per AS 4744/AS 5047
- 4Engineering — Keep spoil, plant and materials set back from the excavation edge, and cap all projecting reinforcement
- 5Engineering — Positive services location — dial-before-you-dig within 30 days and non-destructive digging of services within 1.5 m — before machine excavation
- 6Administrative — Soil classification by a competent person, a permit to enter, and inspection of the excavation and supports each shift and after rain
- 7Administrative — Plant traffic-management plan with spotters separating the excavator from workers, and no entry to an unsupported excavation over 1.5 m
- 8Administrative — Pre-pour inspection sign-off and a weather plan for the pour
- 9PPE — Alkali-resistant gloves and gum boots for the pour crew, plus eye protection against spatter
- 10PPE — Type 1 hard hat, high-visibility clothing and steel-toe boots for all excavation and pour work
Applicable Codes of Practice
Central code for excavation collapse prevention and temporary support
Duties for the concrete placement
Duties for excavators and powered mobile plant
General construction duties and SWMS requirements
Structural concrete design and construction reference
Reference for residential footing design
Reference for the earthworks and excavation
High-Risk Construction Work triggered
Temporary shoring or bracing is required to prevent the footing excavation collapsing.
Footing excavations routinely exceed 1.5 m in depth.
Excavators, pumps and agitators move through the work area.
Who this is for
- →Residential builders pouring slabs and footings
- →Commercial concrete contractors
- →Civil contractors with footing scope
- →Excavation contractors with concrete-pour scope
- →Site supervisors and competent persons inspecting excavations
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 7:00 am a crew from Cornerstone Foundations begins a strip footing that will run 1.8 m deep. Because it passes 1.5 m, the supervisor treats collapse as the defining risk: the walls are battered to the classified soil type, and where the boundary is tight a shield is set in before anyone enters. The dial-before-you-dig plans are current and a comms conduit crossing the line is exposed by non-destructive digging and protected. Spoil is placed well back so it cannot surcharge the wall, and the starter bars already tied are capped so no one can be impaled if they slip. A spotter keeps the excavator clear of the crew as it trims the base, using call-acknowledge-approach. When the reinforcement is inspected and signed, the boom pump — set on proven ground with pads deployed — places the footing while the crew work in gloves and gum boots to avoid concrete burns. A brief shower passes; the competent person re-inspects the batter before work resumes because wet soil loses strength. The footing is closed out with every hold point signed.
Related legislation
- WHS Act 2011 (model)
- WHS Regulation 2025
- Excavation Work Code of Practice
- AS 2870 Residential slabs and footings
Frequently asked questions
Is footing and foundation concreting high risk construction work?
Yes, and usually on three counts at once. Footing excavations routinely pass 1.5 metres, which is work in or near a trench with an excavated depth greater than 1.5 metres under section 291(g) of the WHS Regulation. Where shoring or bracing is needed to stop the excavation collapsing, section 291(e) applies. Excavators, pumps and agitators moving through the work area engage section 291(o). Any one of those brings section 299 into effect, so the SWMS must be prepared in consultation with the crew before work starts, signed, and kept on site. The document is supplied in eight jurisdiction editions, each citing its own Act, Regulation and regulator.
Does this cover the excavation, or only the concrete pour?
Both, because on a footing the two cannot be separated — the crew that digs it is often the crew standing in it. Scope runs from services location and excavation through temporary support, reinforcement fixing and formwork to the pour itself and the pre-pour hold points. Services location is treated as a sequence, not a phone call: a current dial-before-you-dig referral, then non-destructive digging to physically expose anything within 1.5 metres of the excavation line before a machine bucket goes near it. Live electrical, gas and communications assets are each carried as identified hazards with their own controls.
Do I have to shore the footing trench, or can I batter it?
Either, provided it is matched to the soil a competent person has actually classified. The document sets batter angles by soil type — 0.75H:1V for Type A, 1H:1V for Type B and 1.5H:1V for Type C — or shoring designed to AS 4744 and AS 5047 where the boundary is too tight to batter. The rule that goes with it is absolute: nobody enters an unsupported excavation deeper than 1.5 metres. Excavation and supports are inspected each shift and again after rain, because wet soil loses strength and a face that stood yesterday can run this morning. Spoil and plant stay set back from the edge.
How do you stop someone being impaled on starter bars?
By capping every projecting bar as soon as it is tied, not before the inspection walk. Starter bars are the hazard people underestimate on a footing: a worker who slips at the edge falls a short distance onto vertical steel, and a fall that would otherwise cause a sprain becomes a penetrating chest or abdominal injury. The control requires engineered impalement caps rather than a bent offcut or a plastic mushroom cap not rated for the purpose. It works alongside the edge controls — spoil set back, access kept clear, and no unnecessary traffic along the trench lip while reinforcement is standing.
Does this replace the engineer's footing design?
No. It supports work engineered to AS 3600, AS 2870 and AS 3798; it does not replace the engineer's specification, the soil classification or the pre-pour inspection sign-off. What you receive is an editable Microsoft Word document, bought once, with the hazard register and risk ratings, the full hierarchy-of-control set, hold points, a worker sign-on and consultation record, and the legislation schedule for your state. Fill in the actual soil class, the actual depth and the actual plant before the pre-start, then keep it live — the competent person's re-inspection after rain gets recorded on it, not in someone's memory.
Document details
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