Legislative, Duty-of-Care and Standards Framework
The legal scaffolding around a C6 lift
A slewing mobile crane ticket sits inside a layered framework. At the top is general work health and safety law, which imposes a primary duty on the person conducting a business or undertaking to eliminate or minimise risks so far as is reasonably practicable. Below that sit the model regulations covering plant, high-risk work licensing and specific hazards, then the competency standards and guidance material that describe how a licence holder is expected to perform. Understand who holds each duty: the PCBU, officers, designers and manufacturers, suppliers, and the individual worker who must take reasonable care of themselves and others and follow reasonable instructions.
Licensing and scope
A C6 licence authorises operation of a slewing mobile crane with a rated capacity up to 60 tonnes, and endorsements extend that to higher capacities. Questions often test the boundary: a crane's capacity class is set by its rated capacity, not by what it happens to be lifting. Operating outside your class, or operating without the licence on site, is a breach regardless of skill. Also know that a licence does not authorise you to perform rigging work beyond your rigging competency, nor to inspect and certify lifting gear.
Registers, records and documentation
Expect questions on what must be kept and produced: the crane's log book, maintenance and inspection records, test certificates for lifting gear, safe work method statements for high-risk construction work, and records of operator competence. The trap is assuming documentation is optional paperwork; inspectors and question writers treat missing records as evidence the duty was not discharged.
Worked rule of thumb
When a scenario asks "who is responsible?", apply the hierarchy: the PCBU must provide a safe system and adequate supervision; the operator must follow it and stop when unsafe; the rigger must sling correctly. More than one party can be liable for the same incident. If an option says the operator is solely responsible for ground conditions prepared by others, it is almost always wrong.