UV Exposure & Outdoor Solar Radiation SWMS
Outdoor UV exposure controls for construction, landscaping, agriculture, and utility workers — shade engineering, sun-protective clothing, SPF 50+ sunscreen programme, UVI monitoring.
SWMS variants reference your state’s WHS legislation. Instant download after payment.
Outdoor workers in construction, landscaping, agriculture, and utility sectors accumulate solar ultraviolet (UV) radiation doses that routinely exceed five to ten times the recommended occupational limit set by ARPANSA Radiation Protection Series C-1. Solar UV is a confirmed Group 1 human carcinogen, and Australia records the highest melanoma incidence globally, with construction and outdoor trades disproportionately represented in occupational skin cancer claims. Under WHS Regulation 2025 and the Safe Work Australia Guide on Exposure to Solar Ultraviolet Radiation, a PCBU has a positive duty to identify UV as a workplace hazard and implement a documented risk control programme. This SWMS captures the engineering shade requirements, scheduled UV Index (UVI) monitoring thresholds, sun-protective clothing specifications, and the SPF 50+ sunscreen reapplication regime required to discharge that duty. It is mandatory wherever workers spend 30 minutes or more outdoors during peak UVI periods, including overcast days where ground reflection and cloud-edge effects can elevate UV exposure above clear-sky baselines.
Hazards identified
7 hazards covered, sorted by priority.
Long-latency squamous and basal cell carcinoma, melanoma, and accelerated photoageing — compensable occupational disease
Painful corneal photokeratitis within 6–12 hours, chronic conjunctival degeneration, cataract acceleration
Heat exhaustion or exertional heatstroke with collapse, organ damage, and potential fatality on remote sites
Unrecognised severe sunburn on shaded skin areas including under-chin and lower face
False sense of protection leading to second-degree sunburn and DNA damage to basal keratinocytes
Phototoxic blistering at sub-burn UV doses, chemical-induced photodermatitis requiring medical treatment
Significant unprotected exposure during winter and shoulder seasons contributing to lifetime cumulative dose
Control measures
Hierarchy-of-controls order: elimination → substitution → isolation → engineering → administrative → PPE.
- 1Elimination — Reschedule high-exposure tasks (roofing, formwork stripping, trenching) to before 10am or after 3pm during UVI 8+ months (October–March).
- 2Elimination — Eliminate unnecessary outdoor task duration through prefabrication offsite, indoor staging areas, and just-in-time delivery to reduce cumulative dose.
- 3Substitution — Substitute outdoor manual tasks with mechanised plant featuring ROPS/FOPS cabs with UV-filtering laminated glazing rated to AS/NZS 1067.1 category 3.
- 4Engineering — Erect fixed and mobile shade structures over fixed work positions using fabric rated UPF 50+ per AS/NZS 4399, positioned to block direct and reflected UV.
- 5Engineering — Install UV-filtering window film on plant cabs and site office glazing, and provide shaded crib rooms within 50 metres of active work fronts.
- 6Administrative — Monitor live UVI via ARPANSA real-time feed or calibrated site UV meter; trigger mandatory full sun-protection regime at UVI 3 and rotation breaks at UVI 8+.
- 7Administrative — Schedule a documented SunSmart toolbox briefing each shift covering UVI forecast, reapplication intervals, and recognition of early erythema.
- 8PPE — Issue long-sleeved collared shirts and long trousers rated UPF 50+ per AS/NZS 4399, plus broad-brim or legionnaire hard-hat attachments providing 7cm minimum brim.
- 9PPE — Provide close-fitting wraparound safety eyewear rated to AS/NZS 1067.1 and 1337.1 with UV400 filtration for all outdoor tasks regardless of glare.
- 10PPE — Supply broad-spectrum SPF 50+ water-resistant sunscreen meeting AS/NZS 2604, applied 20 minutes pre-shift and reapplied every two hours or after sweating/washing.
Applicable Codes of Practice
Sets the occupational UV effective irradiance limit of 30 J/m² per eight-hour day, defining the exposure ceiling this SWMS controls against.
Codifies the PCBU duty under WHS Act s19 to identify UV as a hazard and apply the hierarchy of controls for outdoor work.
Specifies the UPF testing and labelling regime that fabric used for site uniforms and shade structures must meet to claim UPF 50+ protection.
Defines the lens category 2–4 transmittance requirements satisfying the eye protection control for ocular UV and pterygium prevention.
Who this is for
- →Construction site managers running outdoor civil and building works
- →Landscaping and grounds maintenance crew supervisors
- →Agricultural enterprise managers overseeing field and orchard workers
- →Electricity, water, and telecommunications utility field crews
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
On a regional water main replacement project in late November, the site supervisor opens this SWMS at the 6:30am pre-start brief. The Bureau of Meteorology forecast shows UVI peaking at 12 (extreme) by 11:30am. The supervisor walks the three-person excavation crew through the hazard register, highlighting reflected UV from the freshly cut concrete trench walls and the photosensitising warning on the herbicide used the previous day for vegetation clearance. Using the control hierarchy, they reschedule the pipe-jointing task — originally planned for midday — to commence at 7am, with the bulk of work completed before the UVI 8 threshold. A portable shade structure rated UPF 50+ is erected over the trench access point. Each worker signs the SWMS sign-on register confirming they are wearing long-sleeved UPF 50+ shirts, broad-brim hard hat attachments, and AS/NZS 1067.1 wraparound eyewear, and that SPF 50+ sunscreen has been applied. The supervisor sets a phone alarm for 9am, 11am, and 1pm sunscreen reapplication. At 10:45am the site UV meter reads UVI 9; the supervisor invokes the SWMS rotation control, moving two workers into the shaded crib trailer for a 20-minute break and noting the adjustment on the SWMS daily review sheet.
Related legislation
- WHS Act 2011 (model)
- WHS Regulation 2025
- Code of Practice — Hazardous Manual Tasks
Frequently asked questions
Do I need a SWMS just for solar UV exposure?
Solar UV is not, of itself, one of the high risk construction work categories in section 291 of the WHS Regulation, so section 299 does not make a SWMS mandatory for sun exposure alone. The duty that does bite is the primary duty under section 19 of the WHS Act: UV is a known hazard, so it has to be identified, controlled through the hierarchy, and the controls documented and consulted on. In practice most outdoor work also carries a section 291 trigger — roofing with a fall risk over two metres under section 291(a), for example — and the UV controls belong inside that SWMS rather than in a separate folder.
At what UV Index do the controls have to start?
UVI 3. That is the point at which unprotected skin begins accumulating damaging dose, and it is reached in much of Australia well outside summer, which is why the document treats overcast and cool days as in scope rather than exceptions. The SWMS runs a live UVI check at each pre-start, from the ARPANSA real-time feed or a calibrated site meter, and steps up at UVI 8 and above to scheduled rotation into shade. Cloud-edge scattering and reflection off concrete, sand, water and metal roof sheeting can lift the effective dose well above the clear-sky reading, so the meter beats the sky.
Is issuing sunscreen enough to discharge the duty?
No — sunscreen is the bottom of the hierarchy and the SWMS is deliberately structured so it is the last control, not the first. Above it sit rescheduling high-exposure tasks such as roofing, formwork stripping and trenching outside the 10am to 3pm window, prefabricating offsite to cut outdoor duration, plant cabs with UV-filtering glazing, and shade structures using fabric rated UPF 50+ to AS/NZS 4399. Sunscreen is then broad-spectrum SPF 50+ water-resistant to AS/NZS 2604, applied twenty minutes before the shift and every two hours after, and it degrades faster under sweat, abrasion and solvent contact than the label implies.
Does the SWMS deal with heat stress and photosensitising chemicals as well?
Yes, because both interact with the UV controls rather than sitting apart from them. Long-sleeved UPF 50+ clothing cuts UV dose but also cuts evaporative cooling, so the document pairs it with rotation, shaded crib space within reach of the work front, and hydration, particularly on remote sites where collapse is far from help. Photosensitisers are treated as a pre-start check: coal tar products, some herbicides and a number of prescribed medications will produce phototoxic blistering at doses well below a normal burn threshold, so recent chemical use on site is raised at the briefing before the crew goes out.
What do I receive, and how is it meant to be used day to day?
You receive an editable Word document, bought once, with a state legislation schedule for NSW, VIC, QLD, SA, WA, TAS, NT and ACT, the hazard register mapped to the hierarchy of control, a pre-start checklist, a worker sign-on register and an incident escalation flow. Day to day it drives the pre-start: read the UVI forecast, decide which tasks move out of the peak window, confirm shade and eyewear to AS/NZS 1067.1 with UV400 filtration, and have the crew sign on. When the meter climbs mid-shift and you rotate people into shade, that adjustment is noted on the daily review sheet.
Document details
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