Free high risk work licence register
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Free high risk work licence register (PDF-ready). Track workers' HRW licence classes, expiry dates and verification of competency in one list.
Commercial Director
Updated 5 July 2026
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- PDF format, ready to print or fill on screen
- Use as-is or customise to suit your operation
- Go digital in MapTrack for photos, alerts and audit trails
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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:
- Field users can easily scan a QR code to complete a form on mobile. Unlimited users.
- Automatically get alerts when faults are identified.
- Link every form digitally as a PDF to the relevant asset, location or person.
- Receive a digital PDF copy with every submission to your email.
- Ability to share forms digitally.
- Build conditional logic (show or hide questions based on answers).
- Take pictures or attach photos. Not possible with a paper-based form.
- Electronic signatures.
- Edit forms later without reprinting.
- Restrict permissions (who can view, complete or approve).
- Build forms with AI (describe what you need and MapTrack suggests the form).
- Set recurring audit schedules with automatic reminders and escalation.
- 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)
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<p style="font-size:12px;font-weight:700;letter-spacing:0.05em;text-transform:uppercase;color:#0E7490;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>Please keep the “by MapTrack” attribution link in the snippet.
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