Safe Work Method Statements and Safe Work Procedures

Sections 5 & 6 are concerned with risk management and look at Safe Work Method Statements and Safe Work Procedures. These are probably the two most important sections of the Workbook and must form the foundations for your safe work site practices. Most builders and building companies will now need to see both of these from you at every job site. Examples of completed Safe Work Method Statement/Work Method Statement forms are provided for each trade. They look at all the tasks that you are likely to do on the job site and give recommended controls to make the job and job site safer. If anything you do is not listed on the SWMS form, then you need to write it down and control the risk yourself. SWMS’s may be used for the same work at different sites if there are no new risks on that job site that affect the work.

From the SWMS’s we have developed examples of Safe Work Procedures for your trade. These examine how the jobs should be done safely and are presented in a series of photos showing the right way and the wrong way to do the job. They are laminated and attached in a loose pocket at the back of the Workbook so that workers can have them on site without damaging them. There are also Quick Safety Checklists attached to most of the Safe Work Procedures which should be used at the start of every day to ensure that workers are following the Safe Work Procedures.