Recognition of an Interstate Licence at Short Notice
You are the nominated supervisor on a shutdown job in New South Wales starting Monday. On Friday afternoon a labour-hire company sends you three operators. Operator A holds a current WP licence issued in Queensland. Operator B holds a Queensland WP licence that expired eight weeks ago and shows you a renewal receipt. Operator C completed a Queensland course two weeks ago and has a statement of attainment but has not yet received a card, and says the RTO told him the certificate is 'as good as a licence'. The job requires boom-type EWPs with boom lengths of 18 m and 22 m. The labour-hire account manager says all three are 'ticketed' and asks you to confirm they are cleared to start Monday.
1. For each operator, state whether they may operate the boom lifts on Monday, and why.
Read the worked answer
Operator A - yes. A current interstate licence for the same class is recognised under the national model WHS licensing arrangements; you should sight the card and confirm the class (WP) and that it has not expired. Record the sighting.
Operator B - no. An expired licence is not a licence. A renewal receipt shows an application has been lodged, not that the licence is in force. Until the renewed licence is issued, B must not operate. B should be stood down from operating duties and the labour-hire company told why.
Operator C - no. A statement of attainment or course completion certificate is evidence of training and assessment, not a licence. The licence is issued by the regulator after the RTO notifies the result. Until the card (or a verifiable digital licence) exists, C is unlicensed and must not operate a boom-type EWP with a boom length of 11 m or more.
Neither B nor C can be 'covered' by A being on site - licensing is per-person.
2. Draft the response you would give the labour-hire account manager, and explain what you would record.
Read the worked answer
The response should be short, written, and unambiguous:
Of the three operators, only Operator A is cleared to start Monday. Operator B's licence expired eight weeks ago; a renewal receipt is not a current licence and B cannot operate until the new licence is issued. Operator C holds a statement of attainment only; that is training evidence, not a licence, and C cannot operate until the licence is issued and sighted. Please confirm replacement operators with current WP licences by Sunday, or the boom-lift work will not proceed as rostered.
What to record:
- The date and time you sighted each document, and what each document was.
- The specific reason for each refusal (expired; no licence issued).
- That the refusal was communicated in writing to the supplier.
- Any worker moved to non-operating duties.
Recording matters because if an incident occurs, the first question will be who allowed an unlicensed person to operate. A contemporaneous written record is your protection and the site's.