Security & Palisade Fencing SWMS

Security and palisade fencing installation involves offloading and setting heavy steel panels, pales and posts, augering or excavating post footings, concreting, and welding or bolting pale sections and anti-climb tops. Panels commonly weigh 40–120 kg per lineal metre and pale points create impalement risks during handling. Powered mobile plant — augers, excavators, skid steers and delivery trucks with crane arms — operates in close proximity to workers, and the work often takes place along live property boundaries, near underground services and adjacent to public footpaths and roadways.

Under the Work Health and Safety Regulation 2025 (NSW), section 291 defines high risk construction work (HRCW), and this task falls within section 291(o) — work involving the movement of powered mobile plant. Section 299 requires a Safe Work Method Statement to be prepared before the work commences, kept available for inspection, and complied with on site. Controls follow the hierarchy in section 36: eliminate where reasonably practicable, then substitute, isolate, engineer, administer, and lastly PPE.

Hazards identified

12 hazards covered, sorted by priority.

Control measures

Hierarchy-of-controls order: elimination → substitution → isolation → engineering → administrative → PPE.

1. 1Eliminate manual handling of panels over 25 kg by specifying panel lengths and using mechanical lifting (vehicle-loading crane, telehandler forks with panel clamp, or two-person lift trolleys) for offloading and positioning.
2. 2Substitute traditional wet-cut concrete cutting with pre-cast plinths, or use fully enclosed on-tool water suppression conforming to AS/NZS 60335.2.69 to eliminate dry silica dust generation during any cutting of masonry or concrete elements.
3. 3Before any ground penetration, obtain and interpret Dial Before You Dig / BYDA plans, undertake non-destructive potholing to expose services within 500 mm of the intended auger location, and maintain no-go zones around underground assets in accordance with AS 5488 (subsurface utility information).
4. 4Establish exclusion zones around powered mobile plant using physical barriers and spotters; ensure operators hold the appropriate HRW licence (LB, LO, CN for slew crane where applicable) and plant is inspected against a pre-start checklist consistent with AS 2550.1 (cranes — safe use).
5. 5Use engineered lifting attachments — panel clamps, certified slings and tag lines — with rated capacity clearly marked; never lift pales by the spike ends, and cap pale points with proprietary point protectors during storage and handling.
6. 6Isolate hot work areas with welding screens, maintain a 3 m combustible-free zone, provide a serviced fire extinguisher within 10 m, and implement a hot work permit with a 30-minute post-work fire watch where required by the principal contractor.
7. 7Provide task-specific respiratory protection (minimum P2) and full skin cover when handling wet concrete or cementitious grout; provide eyewash facilities and Safety Data Sheets on site for all chemicals in accordance with the WHS Regulation 2025 (NSW), section 344.
8. 8Manage the public interface with Class B hoarding, Type 2 traffic control where the work zone impacts a road or footpath, and a Traffic Guidance Scheme prepared by an accredited TGS designer under the Transport for NSW Traffic Control at Work Sites Technical Manual.
9. 9Where anti-climb topping, razor tape or gate hardware is fixed above 2 m, use a compliant Elevating Work Platform or trestle scaffold designed to AS/NZS 1576.1; puncture-resistant gloves (EN 388 cut level C or higher) are mandatory when handling razor products.
10. 10Implement daily toolbox talks, task rotation and fatigue management, with rest breaks scheduled for forecast temperatures above 32 °C and cool drinking water available at the work face.
11. 11Provide PPE meeting AS/NZS 1801 (helmets), AS/NZS 1337.1 (eye protection), AS/NZS 2210.3 (safety footwear), AS/NZS 1800/1801 hi-vis to AS/NZS 4602.1, and AS/NZS 1715/1716 compliant RPE where dust or fume is generated.
12. 12All workers hold a current White Card (CPCCWHS1001); this SWMS is developed in consultation with workers under section 47 of the WHS Act 2011 (NSW), signed on before starting work, and reviewed under section 302 of the WHS Regulation 2025 (NSW) whenever controls are revised, an incident occurs, or the work method changes.

Applicable Codes of Practice

High-Risk Construction Work triggered

Worked example

A fencing subcontractor is engaged to install 240 lineal metres of 2.4 m palisade security fencing around a new logistics facility at Eastern Creek in Western Sydney. The site has overhead 11 kV lines along the eastern boundary and Jemena gas and Sydney Water assets crossing the alignment. The crew uses a truck-mounted auger to bore 450 mm diameter post holes at 2.4 m centres, offloads panels with the truck's vehicle-loading crane, and fixes anti-climb spikes above 2.4 m from an EWP. Before work starts, the supervisor confirms BYDA plans, potholes services within the auger corridor, sets a 6.4 m exclusion zone under the overhead lines (SafeWork NSW guidance for untrained persons near overhead electric lines), briefs the crew on this SWMS, and obtains sign-on. A traffic controller manages the delivery vehicle reversing across the shared driveway. Mid-shift the auger encounters an unmarked telecom conduit; work stops, the SWMS is reviewed under section 302, and controls are revised before resuming.

Related legislation

• Work Health and Safety Act 2011 (NSW)
• Work Health and Safety Regulation 2025 (NSW)
• Electricity Supply (Safety and Network Management) Regulation 2014 (NSW)
• Protection of the Environment Operations Act 1997 (NSW)
• Roads Act 1993 (NSW) — for works affecting public footpaths and road reserves
• Gas and Electricity (Consumer Safety) Act 2017 (NSW)

Frequently asked questions