Demolition Work Code of Practice Guide

Information current: 3 August 2026.

This guide provides general information about managing demolition-work risks. It is not the law, does not replace the applicable Work Health and Safety Act, regulations or an adopted Code of Practice, and is not personalised legal advice.

What does the Demolition Work Code cover?

Under the Model Code, demolition work means demolishing or dismantling a structure, or part of a structure, that is load-bearing or otherwise related to its physical integrity. It does not include dismantling formwork, falsework, scaffolding or similar temporary support, access or containment structures, or removing power, light or telecommunications poles.

A structure may be fixed or moveable and temporary or permanent. Examples include buildings, sheds, towers, chimney stacks, silos and storage tanks.

Demolition work is construction work. It is high-risk construction work when it involves demolishing an element that is load-bearing or otherwise related to the structure's physical integrity. A compliant safe work method statement (SWMS) must then be prepared before that work starts.

The Code addresses:

duty holders and consultation;
hazard identification, risk assessment and the hierarchy of controls;
demolition planning, licensing, notifications and SWMS;
structural stability and demolition sequencing;
asbestos, hazardous chemicals and other hazardous materials;
essential services, plant, traffic, falling objects, debris and falls;
emergency arrangements, electricity and fire prevention; and
manual, mechanical, induced-collapse, explosive and special-structure methods.

Model Code versus an adopted Code

The Safe Work Australia document is a Model Code of Practice. Safe Work Australia is a national policy body, not a WHS regulator. States, territories and the Commonwealth regulate and enforce the WHS laws applying in their jurisdictions.

A Model Code should not be assumed to have legal effect merely because Safe Work Australia published it. Legal status depends on whether and how the relevant jurisdiction has approved or adopted a Code under its own legislation. The evidence reviewed for this guide contains adopted demolition-work Codes for New South Wales, Western Australia, Tasmania and the Northern Territory.

An adopted Code provides practical guidance rather than replacing the Act or regulations. In WA, Tasmania and the NT, an approved Code may be admitted in proceedings as evidence about compliance, known hazards and controls, and what was reasonably practicable. Evidence of another method may be introduced where it provides an equivalent or higher safety standard.

NSW has an additional express provision in section 26A of the Work Health and Safety Act 2011: a PCBU must comply with an approved Code or manage the hazards and risks differently while providing an equivalent or higher standard of health and safety.

Codes address particular subjects and may not cover every hazard. References to legislation inside a Code are included for convenience; the current Act and regulations remain the authoritative legal sources.

Who should use this guide?

The guidance is principally for PCBUs, including demolition contractors and businesses with management or control of demolition workplaces. It is also relevant to:

persons commissioning construction work and principal contractors;
designers, engineers and other competent persons;
manufacturers, importers, suppliers and installers of plant or structures;
officers responsible for due diligence;
supervisors, plant operators, workers and subcontractors; and
other people who need to understand how demolition risks are being controlled.

Major duties

A PCBU must, so far as is reasonably practicable, ensure the health and safety of its workers and ensure that other people are not put at risk by its work. In demolition work this includes providing and maintaining safe plant, structures, systems of work and the information, training, instruction and supervision needed to protect people.

More than one person can hold a duty for the same matter, and a person can hold several duties. Contracting an activity out does not, by itself, remove responsibilities held under WHS legislation. PCBUs sharing responsibilities should consult, cooperate and coordinate their activities.

Workers who are, or are likely to be, directly affected must be consulted so far as is reasonably practicable. Consultation should address the demolition method and sequence, plant, interacting trades, hazards, controls, SWMS, site access, amenities and emergency procedures.

Information, training and instruction must be suitable and adequate for the work, its risks and the implemented controls and, so far as is reasonably practicable, must be provided in a readily understandable way. Site- and task-specific competency, supervision and any required licences must also be addressed.

Planning before demolition starts

Effective planning should begin before workers or plant enter the demolition zone.

Define the structure and work scope. Obtain available plans, design reports, modification records and information about previous uses of the site.
Confirm structural condition and sequencing. Assess how each stage will affect stability, adjacent structures and temporary supports. If documentation is unavailable, the structure may be weakened, or plant will operate on suspended floors, obtain an engineering investigation from a competent person such as a qualified structural engineer.
Identify site hazards. Consider uncontrolled collapse, falls, falling objects, hazardous materials, plant interaction, noise, vibration, public access, ground conditions and weather.
Locate and control services. Identify electricity, gas, water, sewerage, telecommunications, chemical, fuel and refrigerant services. Arrange disconnection, isolation, capping, protection or other controls with the relevant asset owner or authority.
Check asbestos and hazardous materials. Obtain and review the asbestos register where one is required. If no adequate register exists, arrange competent inspection before work. Identify lead, PCBs, contaminated dust, combustible material and residual chemicals.
Select the demolition method. Choose methods and a sequence that preserve structural stability and allow debris, plant and people to be managed safely.
Confirm authorisations. Check local demolition, asbestos, high-risk-work and explosives licensing, regulator notification, building approval and environmental requirements.
Coordinate the documents. Align the demolition plan, engineering instructions, risk assessment, SWMS, WHS management plan and emergency plan so they describe the same work and controls.

The Model Code recommends preparing a demolition plan where more than one PCBU is involved. If the demolition contractor is also the principal contractor, the demolition plan should be incorporated into the project's WHS management plan.

SWMS, risk assessment and demolition plan

These documents have related but different functions.

Document	Role
SWMS	Required before high-risk construction work starts. It identifies the high-risk work and its hazards, describes the controls, and explains how those controls will be implemented, monitored and reviewed.
Risk assessment	The Model Code states that a risk assessment is not mandatory merely because work is demolition work, but it will often be the best way to select and test controls. It does not replace a required SWMS.
Demolition plan	A broader recommended planning document covering the structure, sequence, engineering, site layout, services, public protection, plant, waste and coordination arrangements.
WHS management plan	Applies where the local jurisdiction's construction-project provisions are triggered. Jurisdictional triggers and principal-contractor requirements are not nationally identical.

The PCBU carrying out high-risk construction work must prepare the SWMS or ensure that it has been prepared. It must be developed in consultation with the workers and their representatives carrying out the high-risk construction work, and it should be coordinated with other PCBUs. If work is not being carried out in accordance with the SWMS, it must stop immediately, or as soon as it is safe to stop, and resume only in accordance with the SWMS.

A generic SWMS is not enough unless it accurately addresses the actual structure, sequence, hazards, plant, site conditions and interacting work.

Practical demolition controls

Structural stability and sequence

Maintain the structure and its remaining components in a stable condition throughout the work. Use temporary bracing, propping, shoring or guys where required by the demolition design or competent-person assessment.

Demolition should generally be systematic and sequential, commonly reversing the construction sequence. Multi-storey structures should generally be taken down storey by storey and masonry in reasonably even courses. Reassess the sequence whenever hidden construction, deterioration, unexpected movement or a different load is discovered.

Asbestos and hazardous materials

Identify asbestos or asbestos-containing material that may be disturbed. Where required by the applicable regulations, assume asbestos is present when competent inspection cannot resolve uncertainty or an inaccessible area is likely to be disturbed. Asbestos likely to be disturbed should, so far as is reasonably practicable, be removed before demolition begins by a person holding the required licence.

Inform workers about identified hazardous materials and their controls. Keep relevant safety data sheets accessible, suppress hazardous dust at its source, provide suitable hygiene facilities and arrange lawful containment, transport and disposal.

Exclusion zones and public protection

Secure the workplace against unauthorised access. Establish exclusion zones for falling objects, debris movement, plant operations, pre-weakening and controlled collapse. Use robust barriers, signs, access controls, supervision, hoarding, containment or overhead protection appropriate to the hazard.

Review exclusion-zone boundaries as the structure, plant position and demolition stage change.

Plant, traffic and suspended floors

Use plant only for its designed purpose unless a competent assessment establishes that the proposed use does not increase risk. Maintain guards, warning devices, operational controls and emergency stops. Confirm operator competency and any required high-risk-work licence.

Separate powered mobile plant from pedestrians and other plant through traffic-management arrangements. Before placing plant or accumulated debris on a suspended floor, obtain competent verification that the floor and any specified propping can carry static and dynamic loads.

Debris and falling objects

Remove debris progressively so it does not overload floors, obstruct access, increase fire risk or create an uncontrolled falling-object hazard. Confine falling material within a suitable chute, shaft or isolated drop zone. Guard openings and prevent access beneath active drop areas.

Falls, electricity and fire

Where a fall could cause injury, first consider performing the work from the ground or a solid construction. If that is not reasonably practicable, use the prescribed order of fall-prevention devices, work-positioning systems and fall-arrest systems.

Before demolition, arrange for live electrical wiring and components not required for the work to be disconnected, isolated or otherwise made safe by a competent person. Protect retained temporary supplies and control work near overhead or underground electrical services.

Control ignition sources and hot work, remove combustible accumulations, maintain appropriate fire equipment and preserve emergency access.

Emergencies and changing conditions

Maintain a written emergency plan addressing response, evacuation, emergency-service notification, medical assistance, communication, testing and worker instruction. Coordinate it with the broader project emergency plan.

Inspect and review controls after changes, unexpected structural movement, severe weather, impact, new hazards, incidents, consultation feedback or evidence that a control is ineffective. Revise the SWMS and other plans where necessary.

Special structures—including tensioned concrete, precast panels, fire-damaged buildings, chimneys, facades, tanks and pipelines—require proper planning and an appropriate demolition method and sequence documented before work starts. A competent-person assessment may assist generally, while the specific role depends on the structure and method. For example, the Model Code calls for expert advice from a competent person before induced collapse; a competent-person report for fire-damaged, ruinous or structurally unsound buildings; competent-person inspection or assessment for specified adjoining basement, cellar, vault or void walls; competent-person certification of storage tanks; and competent-person examination of hazardous facilities. Explosives work has separate competent-person, licensing, approval and notification requirements that vary by jurisdiction.

Jurisdiction differences

Jurisdiction	Status and points to check
Model	Safe Work Australia's Model Code is national guidance produced by a policy body. Confirm local adoption before treating it as the applicable Code.
New South Wales	The NSW Demolition Work Code is an approved Code. Section 26A requires a PCBU to comply with an approved Code or use a different method providing an equivalent or higher safety standard.
Western Australia	WA has an approved second-edition Code under the Work Health and Safety Act 2020. It addresses both the General and Mines Regulations and contains a jurisdiction-specific Class 1 and Class 2 demolition licensing and notification framework, including requirements linked to AS 2601.
Tasmania	Tasmania's Demolition Work Code is an approved Code. The WHS Act permits the Code to be used as evidence in proceedings and recognises evidence of an equivalent or higher alternative method.
Northern Territory	The NT edition records local approval and gazettal in 2020. The NT WHS Act provides for approved Codes to be used as evidence and recognises an equivalent or higher alternative method.

The evidence package for this guide does not establish adoption or current requirements for other Australian jurisdictions. Wherever the work occurs, check the regulator's current Code, legislation, licensing rules, notification process and construction-project provisions before relying on a threshold or procedure found in another jurisdiction.

Implementation checklist

Before authorising demolition work, confirm that:

Common mistakes to avoid

Treating the national Model Code as though it were automatically the adopted local Code.
Copying licensing, notification or project thresholds from another jurisdiction.
Using a generic SWMS that does not reflect the actual structure or demolition sequence.
Treating a risk assessment or demolition plan as a substitute for a required SWMS.
Starting before services, asbestos, hazardous materials and structural condition have been resolved.
Removing structural members without accounting for stability at every intermediate stage.
Allowing plant or debris to load a suspended floor without competent verification.
Relying on PPE or warning signs where elimination, isolation or engineering controls are reasonably practicable.
Failing to revise the controls after conditions, plant, personnel or sequencing change.

Official sources

Confirm that each source remains current before applying it: