Free high risk work licence register
Free high risk work licence register (PDF-ready). Track workers' HRW licence classes, expiry dates and verification of competency in one list.
Updated 5 July 2026
High Risk Work Licence Register
Workers, licence classes, expiry dates and verification of competency
PLANT AND EQUIPMENT OPERATORS
DOGGING AND RIGGING
SCAFFOLDING AND ACCESS
OTHER HIGH RISK WORK
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Key takeaways
- The MapTrack high risk work licence register contains 16 checks across 4 sections. Sections covered: PLANT AND EQUIPMENT OPERATORS, DOGGING AND RIGGING, SCAFFOLDING AND ACCESS, OTHER HIGH RISK WORK.
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Used by construction, mining and field service teams
What is a high risk work licence register?
A high risk work licence register is a controlled list of the workers who hold high risk work licences (HRWL) on your site, the licence classes they hold, and the dates those licences and any verifications of competency (VOC) expire. High risk work in Australia, such as operating cranes, forklifts, boom-type elevating work platforms with a boom length of eleven metres or more, dogging, rigging and scaffolding, can only be carried out by a person who holds the correct licence class. The register records each worker's name, licence number, the classes they hold, the licence expiry date, VOC status and any site or plant-specific authorisation, so you can see at a glance who is allowed to operate what.
Under the model Work Health and Safety (WHS) Regulations enacted in each state and territory (in Victoria, the Occupational Health and Safety Regulations 2017 (Vic)), a PCBU must not direct or allow a worker to carry out high risk work unless the worker holds the relevant licence class listed in Schedule 3, and licences are typically renewed every five years. Note this is distinct from high risk construction work, which triggers a safe work method statement (SWMS) rather than a licence. A register turns that legal duty into a check you can actually run: before a worker steps onto a machine, the supervisor can confirm the licence is current and the class is right. It also catches licences drifting toward expiry so renewals happen before the worker is stood down, and provides the evidence a regulator or principal contractor asks for during an audit or after an incident.
Learn more about compliance and inspections in MapTrack.
Benefits of using this high risk work licence register
- Right person, right plant: licence-class columns confirm a worker is licensed for the exact high risk work before they start.
- Expiry visibility: due-date columns surface licences and VOCs approaching expiry so renewals happen before the worker is stood down.
- Site mobilisation: a single register lets you clear a crew for a new site quickly instead of chasing tickets one by one on the day.
- Verification of competency: recording VOC dates alongside the licence proves site-specific competence, not just a held ticket.
- Audit readiness: a current register is the evidence a principal contractor or regulator asks for to show only licensed workers operate plant.
- Incident defence: after an event, a dated register shows the operator held the correct current licence at the time of the work.
- Workforce planning: seeing which classes are thin across the crew guides who to train or ticket next before a shortage bites.
Benefits of digitising forms in MapTrack
When you move from paper or static PDFs to digital forms in MapTrack, you get:
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- Build conditional logic (show or hide questions based on answers).
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- Electronic signatures.
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- Produce regulator-ready PDF compliance packs in one click.
- Track corrective actions from finding to close-out with full audit trail.
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What to include in a high risk work licence register
This high risk work licence register covers 10 key areas:
- Register header: site or project, business or PCBU name, register owner, and revision date
- Worker name and employee or contractor ID
- Employer or labour hire company, if not directly employed
- Licence number and issuing state or territory
- Licence classes held (for example LF forklift, C2 slewing mobile crane up to 20t, WP boom-type EWP 11m or more, DG dogging, RB basic rigging, SB basic scaffolding)
- Licence issue date and expiry date
- Verification of competency (VOC) date and next VOC due
- Plant or machine the worker is authorised to operate on this site
- Photo licence sighted: yes or no, and date sighted
- Status: current, expiring soon, expired or suspended
How to use this high risk work licence register
- List every worker who does high risk work: Add a line for every operator, dogger, rigger and scaffolder on site, whether directly employed, labour hire or subcontractor. High risk work licence duties apply regardless of who employs the worker, so a register that only covers your own payroll will miss the contractors who often do the riskiest work.
- Record and sight each licence class: Enter the licence number, issuing state and every class the worker holds, and physically sight the photo licence card rather than taking it on trust. Note the date you sighted it. Classes are national, so a licence issued in one state is valid in another, but the card and photo must still match the worker in front of you.
- Capture expiry and VOC dates: Record the licence expiry date, typically five years from issue, and the date of any verification of competency along with when the next VOC is due. The licence proves the base ticket, while the VOC confirms the worker is competent on your specific plant and site conditions, so track both, not just one.
- Authorise workers to specific plant: Link each worker to the specific machines or high risk work they are cleared to do on this site, so a forklift ticket does not become a blanket authorisation for every machine in the yard. A held class and a site authorisation are different things, and a supervisor should be able to see both before allocating work.
- Review and renew before expiry: Run a regular review to find licences and VOCs approaching their due date and start renewals early, because a lapsed licence means the worker cannot legally operate and you lose them from the roster. Suspend or remove any worker whose licence has expired or been cancelled until it is reinstated and re-sighted.
In MapTrack, you can automate compliance tracking and audit trails. Each submission is stored as a timestamped PDF against the asset record.
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Update the register whenever a worker joins or leaves, gains a new licence class, completes a VOC, or has a licence renewed, suspended or cancelled. Sight and record a worker's licence at induction before they do any high risk work, and re-sight it after each renewal.
Review the whole register at least monthly, and more often on a large or fast-moving site, to catch licences and VOCs approaching expiry. Because full HRW licences generally run for five years, most of the day-to-day movement is VOCs and new starters, but a lapsed licence is a hard stop, so the review has to be routine rather than something you only do when a regulator visits.
Frequently asked questions
Applicable regulatory standards
This template aligns with the following regulations and standards:
- Model Work Health and Safety (WHS) Regulations, Chapter 4 Part 4.5 (high risk work licences), as enacted in each state and territory; in Victoria, the Occupational Health and Safety Regulations 2017 (Vic)
- Model WHS Regulations Schedule 3 (classes of high risk work licence, issued by your state or territory WHS regulator)
- Verification of competency (VOC) - an industry or employer competency-assurance practice; not a document prescribed by the WHS Regulations and not a substitute for a licence
- ISO 45001:2018 Occupational health and safety management systems (competence, clause 7.2)
High Risk Work Licence Register preview
The numbers behind this high risk work licence register
Every figure below is sourced and dated, so you can quote it in a toolbox talk, a budget case or a board paper without having to chase the original report.
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<div style="max-width:480px;font-family:system-ui,-apple-system,'Segoe UI',Roboto,sans-serif;border:1px solid #E5E7EB;border-radius:12px;padding:20px;background:#ffffff;">
<p style="font-size:12px;font-weight:700;letter-spacing:0.05em;text-transform:uppercase;color:#071D49;margin:0;">Free template</p>
<p style="font-size:18px;font-weight:700;color:#071D49;margin:6px 0 0;">High Risk Work Licence Register</p>
<ul style="margin:12px 0 0;padding-left:18px;color:#374151;font-size:14px;line-height:1.6;">
<li style="margin:4px 0;">Register header: site or project, business or PCBU name, register owner, and revision date</li>
<li style="margin:4px 0;">Worker name and employee or contractor ID</li>
<li style="margin:4px 0;">Employer or labour hire company, if not directly employed</li>
<li style="margin:4px 0;">Licence number and issuing state or territory</li>
<li style="margin:4px 0;">Licence classes held (for example LF forklift, C2 slewing mobile crane up to 20t, WP boom-type EWP 11m or more, DG dogging, RB basic rigging, SB basic scaffolding)</li>
<li style="margin:4px 0;">Licence issue date and expiry date</li>
</ul>
<p style="font-size:13px;color:#6B7280;margin:14px 0 0;padding-top:12px;border-top:1px solid #E5E7EB;">Free <a href="https://www.maptrack.com/templates/high-risk-work-licence-register" style="color:#071D49;font-weight:600;text-decoration:none;">High Risk Work Licence Register</a> by MapTrack</p>
</div>Free to reuse, including commercially. This template is published under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 licence. Copy it, adapt it, put it on your own site or in your own docs. All we ask is that you credit MapTrack with a link back to this page. The snippet above already includes that credit, so if you use it as-is you’re covered.
Cite this template
Writing about this topic? You’re welcome to quote this checklist. Here’s the wording to use so your readers can find the original.
The MapTrack high risk work licence register contains 16 checks across 4 sections.
- Short attribution
- MapTrack High Risk Work Licence Register, https://www.maptrack.com/templates/high-risk-work-licence-register
- Reference list
- MapTrack. (2026). High Risk Work Licence Register [Checklist template]. Retrieved from https://www.maptrack.com/templates/high-risk-work-licence-register
Free to reuse with credit under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 licence. If you’d rather link straight to it, the page is https://www.maptrack.com/templates/high-risk-work-licence-register.
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