Scaffold, excavation and big plant all carry their own licensing, inspection and registration rules on top of the general WHS duty. Here are the scaffold licence classes, the 30-day inspection rule, Before You Dig, and what "plant registration" actually means.
Scaffold — the HRW licence classes
A High Risk Work scaffolding licence has three classes that build on each other (you hold SB before SI, SI before SA):
- Basic (SB): modular and prefabricated scaffolds in straightforward configurations, where a person could fall more than 4 m — standard bays, birdcage, simple cantilevered platforms designed by others.
- Intermediate (SI): SB plus tube-and-coupler in complex configurations, cantilevered and spurred scaffolds, outriggers, and scaffolds supporting hoists (but not suspended).
- Advanced (SA): SB and SI plus suspended, hung and swing-stage scaffolds, cantilevered hoist towers, and scaffolds supporting cranes — the complex and bespoke work.
You need the right class to erect, alter or dismantle scaffold over 4m.
Scaffold inspection — the 30-day rule
Under WHS Regulation s225, any scaffold a person or thing could fall more than 4 m from must be inspected by a competent person:
- before first use (and declared complete);
- after any incident or alteration affecting integrity (impact, storm, repair);
- periodically, at intervals not exceeding 30 days while in use (many principal contractors run weekly).
Use the handover certificate plus the green/amber/red tag system at access points, and keep records — location, date, the competent person's name and signature, the design reference, and any restrictions.
Before You Dig — every excavation
Before You Dig Australia (BYDA), which replaced Dial Before You Dig, is the free national service that gets you plans of underground services. Lodge the project area online (or via the app); BYDA forwards it to the registered asset owners (power, gas, water, telco), who email you plans and conditions. WHS law expects you to identify underground services before excavating, with BYDA as the primary control — but the plans are a starting point, not a permit to dig: you still positively locate critical assets (potholing, vacuum excavation) and follow the clearance and no-go rules. (More in Noise, Confined Spaces & Excavations.)
Plant registration — design vs item
Some plant must be registered with the regulator, and there are two different things:
- Design registration (Schedule 5 of the WHS Regs) — the engineering design or blueprint of a type of plant, registered once by the designer, manufacturer or importer. It covers tower cranes, mobile cranes over 10 tonnes, gantry cranes over 5t / bridge cranes over 10t SWL, personnel hoists with platform movement over 2.4 m, prefabricated scaffolding, and mast-climbing platforms.
- Item registration — the specific installed item at a workplace (tower cranes, building maintenance units, lifts, some hoists), registered by the PCBU with management or control once it is installed.
Put simply: design registration means the blueprint is approved; item registration means this specific crane or hoist on this site is registered. Before using registrable plant, check both are current — plus the operator's HRW licence (see Electrical, Fire & Plant Safety).
Common mistakes
- An out-of-class scaffolder erecting or altering scaffold over 4m.
- Missing the 30-day scaffold inspection.
- Digging on BYDA plans without physically locating the services.
- Running unregistered plant or an unlicensed operator.
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