Workplace, Health Contents & Safety
MINIMISING HIGH RISK
A word from the
Safety Regulator
A Licence to Perform High Risk Work is required for work that is deemed to be high risk in Schedule 3 of the Work Health and Safety Regulation 2017. In the construction industry, this includes operating cranes and hoists, dogging, rigging and erecting or dismantling scaffold. High risk work training and assessment – what is behind the licence? In total, there are 29 classes of high risk work requiring a licence. A person applying for a high risk work licence must first undertake training at an approved registered training organisation (RTO) and be assessed by an accredited high risk work assessor. SafeWork NSW approves RTOs and accredits assessors through a rigorous system that
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ensures the person who is issued with a high risk work licence has met the standards of competency for that licence class. When applying to become a SafeWork NSW high risk work accredited assessor, the applicant must provide evidence they hold the appropriate training and assessment qualification and have industry experience relevant to the class/es and work references. Additional probity checks, including a national criminal reference check are also undertaken.
MBA NSW | Issue Five | October/November 2018
If SafeWork NSW is satisfied, the applicant must then pass the relevant class/es exam and attend a full day induction to learn SafeWork’s requirements. This system of accreditation provides assurances that licence assessments are only done by skilled and experienced assessors. Once assessors are accredited, SafeWork NSW monitors the licence assessments they do on an ongoing basis, through a rigorous verification program. This ensures assessments are conducted safely and to a high standard, as required in the national assessment instrument/s. High risk work licences are recognised nationally, and SafeWork NSW meets regularly with interstate work health and safety regulators to share information and develop consistent approaches to licensing, compliance and enforcement.
