Surface Treatment & Plating SWMS Templates

Hot-dip galvanising itself is not on the WHS Regulation 2025 Schedule 3 high-risk construction work list, but a SWMS is still legally required where the work involves confined space entry into kettles, work near energised electrical installations, or risk of falls more than two metres into the molten zinc bath. Most galvanising plants also produce SWMS as part of their duty under Regulation 36 to document control measures for hazardous chemicals and thermal hazards under the Hazardous Chemicals Code of Practice.

WHS Regulation 2025 Schedule 14 lists hexavalent chromium as a hazardous chemical requiring health monitoring. PCBUs must arrange baseline and ongoing monitoring by a registered medical practitioner, including urinary chromium testing and respiratory assessment. Cyanide exposure requires emergency procedures including amyl nitrite availability and trained first aiders. The Model Code of Practice for Health Monitoring sets out frequency and reporting duties, and results must be retained for 30 years under Regulation 374.

Yes — drained plating, anodising, and pickling tanks meet the AS/NZS 2865:2009 definition of a confined space because they are enclosed, not designed for human occupancy, and present risk of oxygen deficiency, residual chemical exposure, or engulfment. Entry requires a written permit, pre-entry atmospheric testing for oxygen, hydrogen cyanide and acid vapours, mechanical ventilation, a trained standby person, and rescue equipment. SWMS must integrate with the confined space entry permit system.

Local exhaust ventilation on plating tanks must control exposure below Workplace Exposure Standards published by Safe Work Australia, including the chromium VI WES of 0.05 mg/m³ and hydrogen cyanide ceiling limit. AS 1668.2 governs mechanical ventilation design for industrial premises. SWMS should specify push-pull or lip extraction on chrome and cyanide tanks, scrubber maintenance frequency, and air monitoring under WHS Regulation 2025 r50 where exposure is reasonably likely to exceed the WES.

SWMS content is nationally consistent because hazardous chemicals provisions in WHS Regulation 2025 are harmonised across all jurisdictions except Victoria, which operates under the OHS Regulations 2017 with substantively similar duties. Western Australia adopted the model WHS laws in 2022. Templates referencing model Codes of Practice and AS/NZS standards apply nationally, though notification thresholds for manifest quantities of hazardous chemicals are administered by each state regulator under Schedule 11.