Safety – Safe work method statement
Safe Work Method Statement: Everything you need to know about SWMS
Safe work method statement definition
A Safe Work Method Statement (SWMS) is a formal and often legal document which outlines the specific requirements involved with performing a specific high risk activity.
Safe work method statements are used mostly in construction, and are often defined as being required for all 'high risk construction activities', although work method statements can also be used in many industrial oriented jobs - and are also used for the operation of specific plant or equipment across a number of industries.
A safe work method statement for every relevant activity is to be prepared for a project or before site work commences, with the group or 'package' of SWMS being submitted and reviewed by the client or some other 3rd party before work begins.
Once approved, the SWMS becomes a living document which should be referenced and possibly updated throughout the project, with newly inducted workers viewing and acknowledging that they have read, understood and agreed to conducting work in this safe manner.
The purpose of a safe work method statement
The main purpose of a safe work method statement is to ensure that every person who conducts high risks construction activities is doing so in a safe manner.
The safe work method statement does this by guiding the 'reader' of the SWMS though the requirements and known safety measures associated with this specific activity on this job.
Without safe work method statements, workers and supervisors would be relying on their own intuition as well as potentially bad habits to conduct work. By reading and acknowledging a prepared work method statement, every worker can read through all of the requisite safety requirements including what training and instruction they need before conducting works as well as how to prepare for and control the risks associated with each job step.
All of this information ensures that the worker is aware of the hazards and risks involved withe activity and understands the control measures which they or someone else needs to put in place.
For the company or project, a SWMS serves as the mechanism by which they can ensure that each and every activity is conducted in an approved and standardised way. This reduces the chance of silly mistakes and negligence which result in injuries, lost productive hours and potential fatalities.
There are many different types of safety documentation used in construction and heavy industries, some are reactive and serve to document what went wrong like an incident investigation report, while SWMS documents and safety permits are proactive in that they are used to mitigate the chance of safety issues occurring in the first place.
The last component of the purpose of a SWMS is the legal and compliance side of safe work method statements. A safe work method statement which has been properly acknowledged and signed off by the workers engaging in this activity enable a company to show that they have met their (or at least some of their) obligations as the company. They have provided workers with the instructions and training outlined in the SWMS, as well as an outline of the company's accepted process.
In the case of an incident or accident, this becomes extremely important. A company or company director who did not provide their workers with a safe work method statement can find themselves in serious legal troubles, which also makes storing SWMS and SWMS signatures critical too.
If the worker has read and signed off on the SWMS and then engaged in the activity in a different manner to what was 'agreed' to, then the responsibility and 'blame' likely shifts towards the worker.
When is a safe work method statement required?
Different countries and legislative bodies have different safety and SWMS requirements, and not all companies specifically refer to safe work method statements as safe work method statements. Sometimes they are called safe work procedures and other similar names.
In general across most countries and sites, safe work method statements are required when any persons conducting a business or undertaking is engaging in any high risk construction work.
The above definition immediately raises the question, "what is a high risk construction activity?"
Once again, there may be some nuance and variation depending on the type and location of the project or site you are working on, but below are some general guidelines and bullet points as to when a SWMS will be required across any and every project:
- Work involving asbestos or explosives
- Demolition
- Building or demolition works involving tilt up or pre-cast concrete
- Work conducted on confined spaces
- Work conducted on or near utilities and services such as high pressure gas, chemicals and electrical services
- Structural alterations which require temporary support to prevent collapse
- Working on or around mobile plant and machinery
- Work carried out adjacent to a road, traffic corridor, railway or shipping lane
- Working at depths greater than 1.5 metres
- Working at heights above 2 metres
- Working in areas which have a risk of drowning, or which have a risk of extreme temperatures
Depending on the scale and types of projects you work on, your works and activities may span across many of the above - and some of these 'categories' have more than one safe work method statement within them.
You can never be too safe when thinking about when a safe work method statement is required. The effort required to create and maintain a SWMS for an activity is much less than the effort and consequences of a major safety issue on site.
Some of the more commonly looked for and used safe work method statements are below, and you can view many more free and fully customisable SWMS templates here.
| Activity | Link to digital SWMS |
|---|---|
| Carpentry | View or use it here |
| Working at Heights | View or use it here |
| Electrical | View or use it here |
| Cleaning | View or use it here |
| Demolition | View or use it here |
| Plumbing | View or use it here |
| Manual handling | View or use it here |
| Roofing | View or use it here |
| Painting | View or use it here |
| Concrete | View or use it here |
| Tipper truck | View or use it here |
| Bricklaying | View or use it here |
| Forklifts | View or use it here |
| Asbestos | View or use it here |
See the full library of SWMS templates.
Elements of a safe work method statement
Safe work method statements are so important and so common in the construction industry that there are many different versions of SWMS floating around construction companies and sites.
While there is no exact required format for a SWMS, there are a number of safe work method statement elements which are required on every SWMS in order to ensure it is useful and compliant.
The main elements of a safe work method statement can be viewed in the example safe work method statement below.
The exact layout and structure of your SWMS may be slightly different, but the sections and contents should look very similar, regardless of the type of construction activity or size and scope of the company or project.
How to improve your safe work method statement procedure
Most construction companies have good intentions when it comes to all safety documentation including safe work method statements.
The problem with these good intentions is that they are often inhibited or restricted by poor document controls and processes. Managing safe work method statements can be a time-consuming and difficult endeavour for companies of every size, and this admin burden and problem communicating SWMS effectively can have a real-world impact on safety.
The best and easiest way to improve your safe work method statement procedure is to use some sort of document management system.
A good document management system designed for construction has a number of inherent advantages over trying and failing to manage SWMS properly using fragmented word docs, PDFs and excel sheets.
- You can guarantee that each project and worker is accessing the right SWMS version
- Workers and people on site can access and sign off on the safe work method statement directly from site using any mobile or tablet
- All of your SWMS records and signatures are instantly synced to the cloud where they are stored, organised and easily findable
- You can export your digital records whenever required as perfectly formatted PDF documents
Stuffing your paper-based or PDF safe work method statements into a physical folder isn't practical nor organised. Workers won't be able to open the SWMS on-demand and you risk losing or misplacing critical information and signatures.
A single system can streamline and consolidate all of your safe work method statements, and many of these safety systems can do the same thing for other safety processes and paperwork too.
Safe work method statements get messy quickly when managed with paper and placed in folders, which is too great a risk to take for your workers, projects and company.
Learn more about this SWMS software.
The limitations of SWMS
We have covered many of the merits of safe work method statements in this article, and there are many.
A safe work method statement is one of the most crucial and reliable pieces of documentation a company can create and maintain, and it becomes more and more powerful over time as the company applies new learnings to the document and control measures.
Even so, just like with most things in life, safety doesn't stop at a safe work method statement. Managing safety on construction projects is about having a deep understanding of you actual safety KPI's and performance too.
You need to be able to see and understand your inputs (SWMS etc.), and then measure your outputs (number of incidents, number of hazards etc.). Being able to close the loop on site safety and draw a line between your safety controls/measures and actual performance is the best way to improve your safety controls and measures.
On top of that, you also need to be very aware and on top of your workplace and site culture. The culture around construction safety has been improving in recent years, but there is still room for improvement.
Making sure people are looking for new instruction, training and openly discussing safe work method statements as well as other safety processes and insights is crucial to continuous improvement to safety.
A safe work method statement alone is not enough to guarantee site or worker safety, but it goes a long way towards drastically helping.
People in 80+ countries use this safety software to improve how they document, organise and track SWMS.
See how you can easily streamline your systems and processes with Sitemate today
About Lance Hodgson
Lance has worked for Sitemate for 7 years - helping thousands of industrial companies understand how they can better meet their field record, safety, quality and compliance requirements, and then streamline their systems and processes to better meet these requirements.
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