BlueSafe
Drilling Safety SWMS

Drilling Safety SWMS

  • • 100% Compliant with Australian WHS Acts & Regulations
  • • Fully Editable MS Word & PDF Formats Included
  • • Pre-filled Content – Ready to Deploy Immediately
  • • Customisable – Easily Add Your Logo & Site Details
  • • Includes 2 Years of Free Compliance Updates

Drilling Safety SWMS

Product Overview

This Drilling Safety Safe Work Method Statement (SWMS) is a comprehensive, pre-filled safety document designed to identify hazards and implement controls for drilling operations on Australian worksites. It provides detailed coverage of multiple drilling methods and equipment types to support WHS compliance and effective management of High Risk Construction Work.

Activities & Specific Tasks Covered

This document includes specific risk controls for:

  • Safe setup, operation and shutdown of bench drills in workshop and site environments
  • Drilling and boring holes in metal or timber, including clamping workpieces and controlling swarf
  • Use of drill pedestals and drill presses, including guarding, chuck key control and emergency stops
  • Safe operation of mill or drill press and mill drill press units for precision drilling tasks
  • Core drilling and drilling anchors into concrete floors, slabs and structural elements
  • Use of horizontal borers for large or deep hole drilling in heavy sections
  • Operation of magnetic base drills (mag drills), including securing the magnet and managing fall risks
  • Manual drilling of screw holes using corded and cordless hand drills
  • Use of metal hole saws and specialised drill bits for cutting large diameter holes
  • Undertaking overhead drilling tasks, including control of falling objects and working above shoulder height
  • Use of high torque drilling machinery, including kick-back control and body positioning
  • General manual drilling activities, including correct bit selection, speed control and tool inspection
  • Electrical safety for powered drilling equipment, including RCD use, tagging and testing
  • Management of noise, vibration, dust and flying particles generated during drilling
  • Housekeeping, waste management and maintaining clear, trip-free work areas around drilling operations

Who is this for?

This SWMS is designed for metal fabricators, carpenters, fitters and turners, maintenance teams, construction contractors, workshop operators and site supervisors overseeing drilling activities.

Specific Job Steps & Hazards Covered

Job Step / Activity Potential Hazards
Pre-start planning and assessment
  • • Unidentified underground services
  • • Incorrect drill or bit selection
  • • Incompatible workpiece clamping
  • • Unclear exclusion zones
  • • Inadequate supervision of new workers
Inspect drilling machines and tools
  • • Mechanical failure of drill press
  • • Damaged electrical leads
  • • Defective guards or interlocks
  • • Worn or cracked drill bits
  • • Uncalibrated magnetic base
Set up work area and housekeeping
  • • Trip hazards from leads and hoses
  • • Poor lighting at drill point
  • • Slips on swarf or coolant
  • • Restricted access to emergency exits
  • • Uncontrolled public or worker entry
Secure workpiece and set clamping
  • • Workpiece ejection from chuck
  • • Rotating workpiece entanglement
  • • Crushing between vice and drill
  • • Unstable floor anchors during core drilling
  • • Misaligned pilot holes
Select and fit drill bits
  • • Incorrect bit for material
  • • Bit breakage under load
  • • Contact with sharp cutting edges
  • • Improperly tightened chuck
  • • Flying fragments from hole saws
Manual drilling and screw driving
  • • Hand-arm vibration exposure
  • • Wrist and shoulder strain
  • • Kickback from high torque drills
  • • Contact with rotating chuck
  • • Noise from impact screw driving
Operating bench and pedestal drills
  • • Entanglement with rotating spindle
  • • Contact with unguarded belts
  • • Ejection of workpiece from vice
  • • Swarf cutting and injection injuries
  • • Overreach around moving table
Magnetic drill and overhead drilling
  • • Drill fall from magnetic base
  • • Overhead debris and swarf drop
  • • Loss of balance during overhead work
  • • Magnet failure on painted or dirty steel
  • • Struck-by from detached slug
Core drilling and floor anchors
  • • Water and slurry on floor
  • • Penetration into live services
  • • Kickback from bit jamming
  • • Flying concrete or masonry fragments
  • • Exposure to crystalline silica dust
Using drill presses and mill drills
  • • Unexpected table movement
  • • Contact with rotating cutters
  • • Workpiece pull-in during milling
  • • High noise from cutting operations
  • • Coolant splash and skin contact
Horizontal and radial arm drilling
  • • Crush points on moving arm
  • • Swinging arm collision with worker
  • • Instability of long workpieces
  • • Pinch points on feed mechanisms
  • • Incorrect counterbalance operation
Managing dust, fumes and noise
  • • Inhalation of silica dust
  • • Metal fume inhalation
  • • Excessive noise exposure
  • • Reduced visibility from airborne dust
  • • Irritation from cutting fluids
Manual handling of drills and materials
  • • Back strain from lifting drills
  • • Shoulder injury from overhead lifting
  • • Dropped heavy core rigs
  • • Handling long or awkward steel
  • • Repetitive use injuries
Electrical and isolation safety
  • • Electric shock from damaged tools
  • • RCD failure or absence
  • • Unintended machine start-up
  • • Contact with live components during maintenance
  • • Water ingress into electrical parts
Shutdown, cleaning and storage
  • • Contact with hot drill bits
  • • Cuts from sharp swarf
  • • Slips on leftover coolant
  • • Uncontrolled access to machines
  • • Deterioration of tools in poor storage

Need to add specific site requirements?

Don't worry if a specific job step isn't listed above. Once you purchase, simply log in to your Client Portal and add your own custom job steps at no extra cost. We take care of the hard work—creating the hazards and control measures for free—to ensure your document is compliant within minutes.

Legislation & References

This document was researched and developed to align with:

  • Code of Practice: Managing risks of plant in the workplace – guidance on safe use, guarding and maintenance of drilling machinery
  • Code of Practice: Managing noise and preventing hearing loss at work – controls for noise generated by drilling operations
  • Code of Practice: Managing the risk of falls at workplaces – requirements for overhead and elevated drilling tasks
  • Code of Practice: Hazardous manual tasks – managing musculoskeletal risks from repetitive drilling and awkward postures
  • Code of Practice: Managing the risk of falls in housing construction – where drilling is undertaken on residential construction sites
  • AS/NZS 3760: In-service safety inspection and testing of electrical equipment – testing and tagging of powered drills and associated equipment
  • AS/NZS 1270: Acoustics – Hearing protectors – selection of suitable hearing protection for drilling tasks
  • AS/NZS 1337.1: Personal eye protection – eye protection against flying particles and swarf
  • Work Health and Safety Act 2011
  • Work Health and Safety Regulations 2017
Standard SWMS Features (Click to Expand)
  • Operational guidelines, with a step-by-step approach to safe work
  • Possible hazards that may be encountered
  • Step-by-step safety procedures to follow
  • Before work starts – Guidelines and Checks
  • Safety measures and guides
  • Operational Safety Checks
  • Before and After Risk Ratings
  • Risk Assessment Matrix
  • High Risk Work Involved
  • Emergency Evacuation Procedure
  • Plant and Equipment
  • Qualifications and Permits
  • Specific Personal Protective Equipment (PPE)
  • Company Personnel Sign-off form

$96.8

Safe Work Australia Aligned