On this page Why one state’s code is the starting point · Two sides plan the pour together · Keeping a boom pump on its feet · The hose that moves on its own · Blockages and cleaning out belong to the crew · The licence, the paperwork and the gear
Why one state’s code is the starting point
Queensland’s Concrete pumping Code of Practice 2019 is an approved code under that state’s Work Health and Safety Act, and it was last varied on 24 June 2026. Under section 26A of the Act, a business must either follow the code or manage the same risks in a way that gives an equivalent or higher standard of safety.
NSW brought in the same duty on 1 July 2026: its codes of practice are now the minimum standard a business is expected to meet. SafeWork NSW’s short advice on concrete placing equipment covers the same ground.
Everything below is from Queensland’s code unless it names another source. Where you work, your own state’s regulator has the final word.
Two sides plan the pour together
The code says the site and the pumping business must consult each other, and it gives each side its own list.
The site
Principal contractor, or whoever controls the workplace
- Put the pump where the operator can see both the pump and the pour, as the manufacturer allows.
- Provide a clear, firm base that carries the boom and the delivery trucks and lets the unit be set up level.
- Arrange traffic control for deliveries, clear truck access, and a safe way past for the public if the pump is in the street.
- Set a realistic time schedule before a major pour, allowing for things such as weather, access, the volume of concrete, back-up equipment, local work-hour rules and the concrete supplier’s needs.
- Mark a pump washout area, and stop wash-down residue reaching stormwater drains.
- Talk to the concrete delivery company about line blow-out procedures and trucks reversing, and to each driver about where to stand.
The pump crew
The concrete pumping business
- Enough workers to pump safely and to work the emergency shut-down if a line fails.
- Controls against hose whip from air sucked into the line through the hopper.
- The right pump and method for the pour, its location, truck access, the wind, and manual tasks that could strain muscles or ligaments.
- Protective equipment, operating manuals with the pump, a trained operator, and up-to-date logbooks available on site.
Keeping a boom pump on its feet
Among the set-up risks, the code names a boom pump tipping over, and people being crushed or run over by the pump or a concrete truck. Its checklist for the ground:
- Not over or beside backfilled ground, excavations, trenches or holes, cellars, basements or pits, or soft or poorly compacted ground. The weight of the pump and its load can make an excavation wall collapse, which may overturn the pump.
- Where the ground is soft or close to an excavation, the operator takes it straight to the principal contractor so the pump can be moved.
- Level, or no steeper than the manufacturer’s limit in the operating manual.
- Outrigger pads clear of excavations, soft or filled ground and obstacles, on packing with enough bearing area, and checked regularly for sinking.
- Where possible, the boom is swung out over the outriggers before it is loaded with concrete, and the operator watches the outriggers closely as concrete first goes in.
- No boom set up or worked over worker access ways or occupied site sheds unless there is a gantry built for at least 10kPa above them.
- The area marked, signed for authorised people only, well lit while operating, and with a second access way when pumping is on or near the first.
Booms are not operated in winds above the manufacturer’s limit, and the code asks for a way on site to check the wind speed at the boom’s highest working point.
The hose that moves on its own
Hose whip is the sudden, uncontrolled movement of the flexible rubber hose, typically on the end of a boom, and it can happen on any hose in the line that is not fully restrained while the line is under pressure. People are hurt by the hose itself, by being knocked to the ground, or by material thrown out. Steel fittings on the end of a hose make an injury worse.
The danger zone grows with the length of loose hose. The code’s own example: with 20 metres of unrestrained hose, anyone within 20 metres of the fixed end is at risk.
Among what the code lists against hose whip
- Pump only a pumpable mix, as the supplier specifies, and do not let concrete set in the line.
- Use well-trained, competent operators, and start the pump slowly.
- Never fit a rubber delivery hose with metal fittings on its free end.
- Keep people not involved in the pour out of the delivery hose area.
- Never stretch the hose to reach; if the boom is too short, use a longer boom or move the pump closer.
- Let the boom’s hose hang close to vertical, guided only by the line hand, and never hang more hose than the boom’s manufacturer allows.
- Hard hats and other protective equipment as instructed, and a tidy work area so nobody trips.
- When pumping stops, keep concrete from dropping out of the hose, which lets air in; folding the hose over helps.
- Give the line hand a standing surface at least 450mm wide, never on block walls or beside unprotected edges.
- Watch the concrete level in the hopper so air is not sucked in; a reliable shut-off on the hopper helps.
- On restarting, start slowly, keep everyone clear of the end hose until the air has been pushed out, and pump into a bin or set area before moving the boom back over the pour.
- Keep an exclusion zone around the line while the pump starts; once concrete is moving, it ends.
The code’s hose whip list also asks for safe work procedures for clearing blockages, and sets its own precautions for cleaning a line out with air. For both it points to section 4.3.6, on line cleaning.
Blockages and cleaning out belong to the crew
The code treats cleaning out the pipeline as work only for workers experienced and trained in operating the pump, done to the manufacturer’s instructions and the business’s own procedures, and it expects safe work procedures for clearing blockages. This guide leaves the methods to the code and the crew.
What it asks of everyone else is distance. While a blocked line is being cleared, everyone except the workers clearing it is kept out of the pipeline area, and during cleaning all workers stay away from the discharge end while the concrete is under pressure. Of the three cleaning methods it describes, compressed air carries the highest risk and is the least preferred, and it should not be used where a blockage is suspected.
Cleaning the hopper has its own dangers of entanglement, crushing and amputation. If a worker must reach into the hopper, the code says the equipment is shut down and stored hydraulic or air pressure released first, with another person close by to help.
The licence, the paperwork and the gear
Operating a concrete placing boom is a class of high risk work, and the operator must show their licence before starting work. Queensland’s code allows someone training for the licence to operate under the supervision of a licence holder.
A safe work method statement is needed before high risk construction work, and Safe Work Australia says concrete pumping can be that when it happens near energised electrical installations or services, on or next to a road or railway in use, or where powered mobile plant is moving.
Protective equipment
The code lists safety helmets, eye protection, a safety vest and rubber safety boots as required when pumping concrete, with hearing protection and gloves where needed. Wet concrete is a hazard on skin in its own right: what Safe Work Australia says about it.
Where to check The work health and safety regulator in your state or territory. The Commonwealth, states and territories each enforce their own WHS laws, and Safe Work Australia keeps a list of every regulator’s contact details.