When is a SWMS required?
Two questions decide it. Is the work construction work? And does it fall into one of the 18 high risk categories? If both answers are yes, a SWMS is required by law — before high risk construction work commences, not after.
Is it construction work?
The definition is broader than most people expect. Construction work means work carried out in connection with the construction, alteration, conversion, fitting-out, commissioning, renovation, repair, maintenance, refurbishment, demolition, decommissioning or dismantling of a structure — so repair, maintenance and refurbishment of a structure are construction work, not just new builds.
The Regulations then expressly include:
- installation or testing carried out in connection with that work
- removal from the workplace of a product or waste resulting from demolition
- prefabrication or testing of elements, at a place specifically established for the construction work
- assembly or disassembly of prefabricated elements forming part of a structure
- installation, testing or maintenance of an essential service in relation to a structure
- work connected with an excavation
- work connected with preparatory work or site preparation, including landscaping as part of site preparation
If the answer here is no, the construction-chapter SWMS duty does not apply — though clients and principal contractors often require a SWMS contractually anyway.
Is it high risk construction work?
Construction work is high risk if it falls into any one of 18 categories — falls over 2 metres, structural demolition, asbestos disturbance, confined spaces, trenches deeper than 1.5 metres, energised electrical work, live traffic corridors, powered mobile plant and more. The work does not need to feel dangerous: routine tiling on a second-storey balcony, or mowing beside a live road, can be caught.
Both answers yes? Then, before work starts —
The PCBU carrying out the work must ensure a SWMS for the proposed work is prepared, or has already been prepared by another person — in consultation with the workers doing the work.
On a construction project, the principal contractor must be given a copy before the work starts, and must take all reasonable steps to obtain it.
The work must be carried out in accordance with the SWMS. If it departs from the statement, work stops until the work or the statement is corrected.
The statement must be reviewed and, as necessary, revised when control measures are revised — including when a control is not working, before a workplace change that creates a new risk, when a new hazard is identified, or when a health and safety representative requests it.
Common questions
When is a SWMS required by law?
A SWMS is required when construction work falls into any of the 18 high risk construction work categories in the WHS Regulations, and it must be in place before high risk construction work commences. In New South Wales the duty is s. 299 of the Work Health and Safety Regulation 2025 (NSW); the other harmonised states and territories apply the equivalent model provision, and Victoria imposes the duty at r. 327 of the Occupational Health and Safety Regulations 2017 (Vic).
Is a SWMS required for non-construction work?
Not by the construction chapter of the Regulations — the SWMS duty applies to high risk construction work. Many businesses still prepare SWMS-style documents for other hazardous work as good practice, and principal contractors and clients frequently require them contractually even where the law does not.
Does maintenance or repair work count as construction work?
Often, yes. The Regulations define construction work as work carried out in connection with the construction, alteration, conversion, fitting-out, commissioning, renovation, repair, maintenance, refurbishment, demolition, decommissioning or dismantling of a structure — repair, maintenance and refurbishment are in the definition itself. A maintenance electrician replacing a switchboard, or a plumber cutting into a wall, can be doing construction work.
Who must prepare the SWMS?
The person conducting a business or undertaking (PCBU) that will carry out the high risk construction work — typically the contractor doing the work, not the builder. The duty is satisfied if a suitable SWMS has already been prepared by another person, but the PCBU carrying out the work remains responsible for making sure one exists before work starts.
Is one SWMS enough for a whole project?
A single SWMS can cover multiple high risk activities on the same job, provided it genuinely addresses each of them. What it cannot be is generic: it must be prepared taking into account the circumstances at the workplace, and reviewed whenever the control measures change.
How long must a SWMS be kept?
Until the high risk construction work is completed — and if a notifiable incident occurs in connection with the work, for at least 2 years after the incident.
General information, not legal advice. NSW provisions read from the Regulation on 2026-07-30.
The answer was yes?
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