High risk work licences: the 11-metre rule and the 12-month renewal window

A high risk work licence (HRWL) is what authorises you to do scaffolding, dogging and rigging, and to operate certain cranes, hoists, forklifts, reach stackers, boom-type elevating work platforms, boilers, steam turbines and reciprocating steam engines. You need to be at least 18 to hold one.

The licence classes are set out in Schedule 3 of the Work Health and Safety (WHS) Regulations. Safe Work Australia maintains the model version, each state and territory makes its own regulation from it, and each local regulator issues the licences. The model has 29 classes, and NSW, Queensland and the ACT list the same 29. Victoria, which runs its own Occupational Health and Safety (OHS) Regulations 2017 rather than the WHS model, lists 30: the extra one is a dedicated licence for non-slewing telehandlers over 3 tonnes, available since 1 July 2024.

Holding the right class is one part of staying licensed. The other part is knowing the thresholds, the expiry date and the renewal rules, and that is what this guide focuses on.

The classes you will most often see on a construction site

The full list also covers cranes and hoists (tower, self-erecting tower, derrick, portal boom, bridge and gantry, vehicle loading, non-slewing and slewing mobile cranes, materials and personnel hoists, and concrete placing booms), reach stackers over 3 tonnes, and pressure equipment (boilers, steam turbines and reciprocating steam engines).

The 11-metre rule

The WP class covers, in the words of Schedule 3:

Use of a boom-type elevating work platform if the length of the boom is 11m or more

You will often see this shortened to "over 11 metres", including in some plain-English summaries. The regulation itself says 11 metres or more, so a machine at exactly 11 metres needs a WP licence too.

How "boom length" is measured

This is the detail worth knowing, because the regulation defines boom length, and it is not simply the length of the boom arm. It is the greater of:

• the vertical distance from the surface the EWP stands on to the floor of the platform, with the platform raised to its maximum height; or
• the horizontal distance from the centre point of the boom's rotation to the outer edge of the platform, with the platform extended to its maximum reach.

So a machine can reach the 11-metre line on its height or on its outreach. The manufacturer's specifications for platform height and outreach are the place to check. WorkSafe WA published a short guide to the WP class in August 2026 that sets out the same measurement.

Under 11 metres

Below 11 metres, no HRWL is needed for the EWP itself, and scissor lifts are not a licensed class at all (WorkSafe Victoria says so directly).

That does not mean no training is needed. Employers still have a duty to provide the information, training and supervision needed for the work to be done safely, and many sites ask for documented EWP training or a verification of competency whatever the machine's size. The 11-metre line is about licensing, not about competence.

How you get one

The pathway is the same for every class:

1. Train with a registered training organisation (RTO) in the unit of competency for the class.
2. Be assessed against the national assessment instrument by an accredited assessor. In NSW you first apply online for an assessment enrolment number and bring it to the assessment.
3. Apply to your state or territory regulator within 60 days of passing the assessment.

Training alone does not produce a licence; the assessment is the step that counts. Under the model regulations you can generally keep working while a licence application lodged within that 60-day period is being decided.

Five years, and generally valid across Australia

A licence lasts five years from the day it is granted (regulation 92 of the WHS Regulations; Victoria's licences also run for five years).

It is generally valid across Australia. WHS jurisdictions recognise licences issued under each other's laws, NT WorkSafe says interstate licences do not need to be transferred, and Access Canberra says you can keep working in the ACT on a current interstate licence until it is due for renewal. Safe Work Australia suggests checking with the regulator where you will be working if you are unsure.

Adding a class does not restart the clock

Classes added later expire with the licence. SafeWork NSW gives the example plainly: a licence granted in 2022 expires in 2027, and a class added in 2023 also expires in 2027. SafeWork SA, WorkSafe Queensland and NT WorkSafe say the same.

Everything on the card shares one expiry date, set when the licence was first issued. Anyone building up classes over a career is working to that one date.

Renew before expiry and keep working

Under the regulations, an application to renew a current licence must be made before it expires (regulation 101(4)). If you get it in on time, the licence stays in force until the regulator decides (regulation 102). SafeWork NSW, WorkSafe Queensland and WorkSafe WA all confirm you can keep working while a renewal lodged before expiry is processed.

Regulators send reminders: SafeWork NSW about 60 days before expiry, WorkSafe Queensland four to six weeks before, and SafeWork SA within the 30 days before. Keeping your address and contact details up to date (regulators ask to be told within 14 days of a change) is what makes sure those reminders reach you.

The 12-month window after expiry

If a licence does expire, you have 12 months to renew it (regulation 103; Victoria applies the same 12 months under its own regulations). Two things to know about that period:

• You cannot do the work while the licence is expired. Renewal brings it back, but the work it covers has to wait until then.
• After 12 months, it becomes a new application. The regulation's own note says a later application "would be an application for a new licence", which means training and assessment again for each class you want back.

The regulator can allow a longer period if it is satisfied that exceptional circumstances exist (regulation 103(b); WorkSafe Victoria asks for proof of them). That is a case-by-case decision rather than something to plan around.

The practical upshot is simple: a reminder in the diary a couple of months before the expiry date avoids all of it.

When you can renew: each state and territory

How early you can lodge a renewal is set by each regulator, and the windows differ.

South Australia's window is the narrowest, and it catches people who try to get organised early. SafeWork SA:

"You may only renew your licence within the 30 days prior to the expiry date displayed on your licence. We are unable to process licence renewals more than 30 days before the expiry date."

SafeWork SA also sends its renewal email inside that 30-day window, so in South Australia the email is the cue to act.

Moving states

Because the licence is generally valid nationally, moving does not stop you working. What changes is who you renew with.

• NSW asks that your licence be issued by the state or territory you usually live in, so if you move to NSW permanently you transfer it. A licence can be transferred into or out of NSW if it is current or within 12 months of expiry.
• Victoria lets residents transfer an interstate licence within 12 months of its expiry date.
• Western Australia handles a transfer when you have moved permanently and your licence is due for renewal or you are adding a class. A licence expired more than 12 months cannot be transferred; it means retraining.
• The NT and the ACT do not require a transfer while your interstate licence is current. When it is due, you renew with the regulator where you now live.

The same 12-month boundary runs through all of it.

The picture is different for assessors. An assessor's accreditation is granted by each regulator, so an assessor who wants to assess in another state applies to that state's regulator. Holding a current interstate accreditation counts in their favour, and WorkSafe WA runs a specific process to recognise interstate accreditations.

What a HRWL is not

It is not a white card. A white card shows you have completed general construction induction training, which you need before doing construction work. A HRWL authorises specific high risk work. On a construction site you will generally need both.

It does not cover all plant. Excavators, backhoes, front-end loaders, skid steers and other earthmoving machinery are not high risk work licence classes. Competency is still required; it is usually shown through training and a verification of competency arranged by the employer or the site.

Telehandlers depend on capacity and setup. In NSW, a non-slewing telehandler over 3 tonnes fitted with a boom or jib with a hoist rope or hook block falls under the non-slewing mobile crane class (CN), and a slewing telehandler set up that way needs a slewing mobile crane class (C2, C6, C1 or C0, depending on rated capacity). In Victoria, operating a non-slewing telehandler over 3 tonnes rated capacity needs either the dedicated TV licence or a mobile crane licence. Check with your regulator before relying on a telehandler being unlicensed.

It is not a trade licence. Electrical, plumbing and gas work sit under entirely separate regimes.

Changes on the way for crane licences

Crane licensing is being updated nationally, and crane operators, doggers and riggers are the people it will affect most.

In December 2025, Safe Work Australia published amendments to the model WHS Regulations, approved by WHS ministers, that:

• remove "encompassment" from mobile crane licences, so a slewing mobile crane licence would no longer also cover vehicle loading cranes, non-slewing mobile cranes and reach stackers; and
• add a dogging qualification as a prerequisite for most crane licence classes.

Model changes only apply once each state or territory adopts them. As at 27 October 2026, the current NSW and Queensland regulations still include encompassment, so the existing rules apply there for now.

Safe Work Australia has also consulted on seven further possible changes to crane licensing, including new types of licence (submissions closed on 4 May 2026), and on the safety of earthmoving machinery used to lift suspended loads (closed 2 March 2026). Any changes from those reviews need agreement by Safe Work Australia Members and WHS ministers before states adopt them. We will update this guide as the changes land.

Practical checklist

1. Know your expiry date. Every class on the card expires on the same day.
2. Diarise your renewal against your own regulator's window, using the table above.
3. Renew before expiry so you can keep working while it is processed.
4. Never let a licence go more than 12 months past expiry.
5. Keep your contact details current so renewal reminders reach you.
6. Keep your assessment paperwork with your licence records, not just the card.
7. Moving interstate? Check with the regulator where you now live when renewal comes around.

This guide is general information, not legal advice. Licensing rules are set by each state and territory and can change, so check with your regulator before relying on it.

Published 28 October 2026 · Updated 27 October 2026