Directional Drilling (HDD) SWMS
Horizontal directional drilling (HDD) for utilities and civil infrastructure — pilot bore, pre-ream, pullback, bore-path surveying, service-strike prevention, bentonite slurry management and pit work-zone controls.
SWMS variants reference your state’s WHS legislation. Instant download after payment.
Horizontal Directional Drilling (HDD) is a trenchless method used to install utilities — gas, water, electrical, telecommunications and sewer — beneath roads, waterways and existing infrastructure. The work involves launching a steerable pilot bore from an entry pit, tracking the drill head with walkover or wireline locators, pre-reaming the bore to required diameter, and pulling product pipe back through the void using bentonite drilling fluid as a lubricant and cuttings carrier. Under the Model WHS Regulations Chapter 4 Part 4.5, HDD plant is registrable powered mobile plant requiring documented risk control, and the work routinely intersects multiple High Risk Construction Work categories under Schedule 3 — including work near energised underground services, excavation deeper than 1.5 m at entry/exit pits, and operation of powered mobile plant adjacent to workers on foot. A Safe Work Method Statement is mandatory before HDD commences and must be reviewed at every shift change, service-strike near-miss, or change to bore-path geometry.
Hazards identified
7 hazards covered, sorted by priority.
Arc flash, electrocution fatality, conductive bore string energising operator and locator at surface — coronial referral likely
Explosion, third-party fatality, evacuation of surrounding properties and prosecution under WHS Act s31 reckless conduct
Environmental prosecution under state EPA law, contamination clean-up costs and stop-work notice from regulator
Crush asphyxiation, traumatic injury and notifiable incident under WHS Act s35 requiring site preservation
Degloving, amputation of upper limb, fatal entanglement if loose clothing or gloves caught in rotation
Pedestrian worker struck by reversing plant causing crush injury or fatality under blind-side movements
Acute inhalation toxicity, loss of consciousness in pit and confined-space rescue escalation
Control measures
Hierarchy-of-controls order: elimination → substitution → isolation → engineering → administrative → PPE.
- 1Elimination — Where feasible, relocate bore path to avoid known service corridors entirely by redesigning alignment during the DBYD planning phase before mobilisation.
- 2Elimination — Hand-expose (potholing) all services within 500 mm of the planned bore path using vacuum excavation to eliminate strike uncertainty before drilling commences.
- 3Substitution — Substitute conductive steel drill rods with non-conductive fibreglass-rod systems when boring within 3 m of known live HV cables per ENA NENS 04 guidance.
- 4Engineering — Install voltage-detection strike alert systems on the drill rig frame and remote locator wand with audible alarm thresholds set per manufacturer specification.
- 5Engineering — Use guarded breakout wrench stations with interlocked rotation cut-off compliant with AS/NZS 4024.1601 to prevent rod-joint entanglement during make/break.
- 6Engineering — Bund and contain mud-recycler and entry pit with sandbags, silt socks and frac-out monitoring points along the bore alignment at 10 m intervals.
- 7Administrative — Conduct daily pre-start brief using this SWMS, verify current DBYD plans (less than 28 days old) and complete a documented service-proving checklist before each bore.
- 8Administrative — Establish exclusion zones with physical barriers around drill rig swing radius and pullback alignment; only designated locator and pit attendant permitted inside.
- 9Administrative — Implement a stop-work trigger any time tracker signal is lost, drill fluid pressure spikes unexpectedly, or visible frac-out occurs — escalate to supervisor before resuming.
- 10PPE — Mandatory Class 5 hi-vis, AS/NZS 1801 hard hat, AS/NZS 1337 impact eyewear, dielectric Class 00 gloves at rig controls, and 4-gas personal monitors for pit entrants.
Applicable Codes of Practice
Imposes the duty to identify plant hazards, implement control measures, and register/notify the drill rig as powered mobile plant under reg 213-214.
Specifies guarding, emergency stop and interlock requirements applied to rotating drill string, vice and breakout wrench assemblies on the HDD rig.
Establishes the service-location, plan-validity (28-day), potholing and tolerance-zone duties the PCBU must follow before any HDD bore is commenced.
Where pits accumulate H2S, methane or oxygen-deficient atmospheres, pit becomes a confined space requiring permit, atmospheric monitoring and standby attendant.
High-Risk Construction Work triggered
The HDD rig is registrable powered mobile plant operating within 5 m of workers on foot at the entry pit and pullback station during every shift.
Pilot bore and reaming operations occur entirely underground along the bore path, creating below-ground risk to operators, locators and any pit attendants.
Bore paths routinely traverse the tolerance zones of energised electrical, gas, water and telecommunications assets identified through the DBYD service-location process.
PCBU must consult workers, retain the SWMS for the project duration plus two years after notifiable incidents, and produce on regulator request — penalties for non-compliance are substantial and indexed; current maximum follows the prevailing WHS schedule.
Who this is for
- →HDD contractors on civil and utility installation projects
- →Principal contractors coordinating trenchless utility crossings
- →Locator technicians and drill rig operators on site
- →Utility asset owners commissioning subsurface infrastructure works
What you receive
- ✓Editable DOCX template — Microsoft Word compatible
- ✓State-specific WHS legislation schedule (NSW/VIC/QLD/SA/WA/TAS/NT/ACT)
- ✓Hazard register with risk ratings + hierarchy-of-control mapping
- ✓Worker sign-on register, pre-start checklist, and incident escalation flow
Worked example
On a suburban arterial road upgrade involving a 180 m gas-main installation under a four-lane carriageway, the HDD crew assembles at the entry pit for the morning pre-start brief. The site supervisor opens this SWMS on a ruggedised tablet and walks the four-person crew — driller, locator, pit attendant and trafficker — through each hazard line. The crew confirms the DBYD plans were re-pulled 11 days ago and that a 132 kV HV electrical feeder runs 1.8 m offset and 1.2 m above the planned bore at chainage 65 m. The supervisor selects the dielectric drill-rod substitution control and the strike-alert engineering control from this SWMS, and the driller confirms the fibreglass rods are loaded. Each worker signs on against the document, recording their name, role and competency. Mid-shift, the locator loses tracker signal at chainage 60 m. Referring back to the SWMS stop-work trigger, the driller halts rotation immediately, the crew reconvenes, and they re-verify the tracker battery and offset before resuming. The frac-out monitoring control prompts a visual sweep of the gutter line, where a small bentonite seepage is found at chainage 72 m — the supervisor escalates per the SWMS, deploys silt socks, and amends the document with the new control before drilling continues.
Related legislation
- WHS Act 2011 (model)
- WHS Regulation 2025
- AS 2550 — Cranes, hoists and winches; AS 1418 series