The short answer on EWP licence Victoria requirements
In Victoria, a boom-type EWP with a boom longer than 11 metres requires the operator to hold a high risk work licence. Under 11 metres no licence is required, but training and familiarisation on that specific machine still are.
The short answer is that it depends on the boom length, and the line sits at 11 metres. The longer answer is worth two minutes, because the wrong assumption here stops a job on the spot.
This is general information about the Victorian rules, current at the time of writing. Confirm anything specific with WorkSafe Victoria before you rely on it.
EWP licence Victoria: the 11 metre line
A boom-type elevating work platform with a boom length over 11 metres requires the operator to hold a high risk work licence[2]. In Victoria that licence is issued by WorkSafe[1], and the relevant class for a boom-type EWP is WP.
Under 11 metres, no high risk work licence is required. That does not mean no training is required, and this is where most of the confusion lives.
Under 11 metres is not licence free
An employer still has to ensure the operator is competent, has been trained on that class of machine, and has been familiarised with the specific unit. The licence requirement disappears below 11 metres. The duty of care does not.
What that means for the machines you are likely to hire
The measurement that matters is boom length, not working height, and the two are not the same number. If you are close to the line, ask the hire company which side of it the specific machine sits on before anybody turns up.
| Under 11 m boom | Over 11 m boom | |
|---|---|---|
| High risk work licence | Not required | Required, WP class |
| Training | Required | Required |
| Familiarisation on the actual unit | Required | Required |
| Who is responsible | Employer and the person controlling the workplace | Employer and the person controlling the workplace |
The other pieces of paper
A licence is one part of it. On a compliant site you will usually be asked for more than that.
The operator’s ticket
A high risk work licence where the machine requires one, and evidence of training where it does not.
Familiarisation on that unit
Machines differ. Being ticketed on booms generally is not the same as knowing the controls on the one that turned up.
The machine’s compliance record
Inspection and test records per the standard[6]. On our hires the current certificate travels in the cab.
A safe work method statement
Work at height on a construction site is high risk construction work. The SWMS comes from whoever is doing the work.
The licence is about the operator. The certificate is about the machine. A compliant job needs both, and they come from different places.
Boom length is not working height
This is the detail that catches people, because the two numbers are close enough to be confused and far enough apart to matter. Boom length is the length of the boom itself. Working height is how high a person in the basket can reach, and it includes the height of the chassis and roughly two metres for the operator.
Ask the specific question
Not “is this over 11 metres”, which is ambiguous. Ask what is the boom length on this machine. A hire company that runs its own fleet will answer immediately from the compliance plate.
What about the Yellow Card?
The industry familiarisation programme run by the Elevating Work Platform Association of Australia[5] is widely recognised and is often what a site means when it asks whether your operator is “carded”. It is not a substitute for a high risk work licence where one is required. It sits alongside it.
Worth confirming before the truck arrives
Ask the site what they will accept, and ask the hire company which side of the 11 metre line the machine sits on. Those two questions, asked at quoting stage, prevent the most common reason a machine gets turned away at the gate.
If you do not have a ticketed operator
That is what wet hire is for. We supply the machine with an operator who holds the licence and the familiarisation for that unit, which takes the whole question off your desk. The alternative is dry hire, where you supply the operator and hold the responsibility. Both are normal. Which suits you is covered in wet hire or dry hire.
What an EWP licence Victoria issues actually authorises
A high risk work licence authorises a person to operate a class of equipment. It is not a permission to do a particular job, and it is not a statement that a given machine is suitable for it.
That distinction matters because the two get conflated constantly. An operator holding the right ticket can lawfully operate the machine. Whether the work itself may proceed depends on other things entirely: the risk assessment, the exclusion zones around any live service, the asset owner‘s approval where one is needed, and whether the machine is rated for the conditions.
So an EWP licence Victoria recognises covers the person. The machine’s compliance plate and test records cover the equipment. The site’s documentation covers the work. All three have to line up, and holding one of them does not imply the others.
How the ticket is obtained
Training is delivered by a registered training organisation, and the assessment covers both the knowledge and the practical operation of the machine class.
The content is what you would expect: planning the task, assessing the ground and the surroundings, setting up and stabilising the machine, operating it within its limits, understanding the load chart and the safe working load, using the emergency and backup systems, and shutting down and packing up.
Once assessed as competent, the operator applies to the regulator for the licence. High risk work licences issued in one state are recognised in the others, which is why a crew that works across borders does not need a separate ticket per state.
Licences carry an expiry and have to be renewed. It is worth checking the date on a licence before a job rather than on the morning of one.
Familiarisation is a separate obligation, and it is the one people skip
A licence says an operator is competent with a class of machine. It does not say they are familiar with the specific machine in front of them.
Controls, interlocks, backup systems, emergency lowering, jackleg sequencing and load charts vary between manufacturers and between models from the same manufacturer. Our fleet spans several brands precisely because the machines are broadly similar, but broadly similar is not identical, and the differences are exactly the sort that matter under pressure.
So machine-specific familiarisation sits with the employer and happens regardless of what tickets the operator holds. On a dry hire, that is your responsibility. We will run through the machine with your operator when it arrives, and we would rather spend that time up front than have someone learning a control layout at height.
If an operator has not run that model before, say so when you book. It costs nothing and it is the single most useful thing you can tell us.
Below the eleven metre line, the duty does not disappear
The eleven metre threshold decides whether a high risk work licence is required. It does not decide whether training is required.
Anyone operating a machine below the threshold still has to be trained, instructed and supervised to the extent needed to do the work safely, and the employer still has to manage the risk of a fall. The absence of a licence requirement is not an absence of obligation, and treating it as one is how smaller machines end up being operated by people who have never been shown the load chart.
In practice, most of the insulated towers anyone hires for line-adjacent or tree work sit well above the threshold anyway, so the question rarely arises on our fleet. It comes up more often on small self-propelled machines hired for indoor work.
Working near power lines adds a layer the licence does not cover
This is the part that most often gets missed, and it is the part with the least room for error.
Work near live electrical assets is governed by exclusion zones, and the distances depend on the voltage and on who is doing the work. Approval to work inside those distances comes from the asset owner, not from the hire company and not from the operator’s licence. A spotter is frequently required, and the requirements for one are specific rather than a matter of judgement.
An insulated tower is what makes that work physically possible. It is not what makes it permitted. Hiring a machine rated to the voltage is one requirement among several, and the approvals run on their own timeline, which is usually longer than people allow for.
The practical advice is to start the approval conversation before the hire conversation. The machine can be organised in about a week. The approval frequently cannot.
Rescue is part of the plan, not an afterthought
Every job at height needs a way of getting someone down who cannot get themselves down, and it needs to be worked out before anyone goes up.
The machines carry the equipment for it. A DC backup pump is fitted as standard so the boom can be brought down if primary power is lost. There are controlled descent devices and D-rings inside the basket, and anchor points at the top of the turret and the top of the fly jib. Ground controls override the basket controls.
What the machine cannot supply is the plan: who notices, who operates the ground controls, who calls, and how long any of it takes. That sits with whoever controls the site.
Basket tie-down points are for equipment only. They are not harness anchors, and they are worth pointing out because they look like they would do.
What a hire company should ask you
A hire company that asks none of these questions is not doing you a favour.
| Question | What it establishes |
|---|---|
| What is the boom length of the machine you need? | Whether a high risk work licence is required at all |
| Does your operator hold the ticket, and is it current? | Whether dry hire is possible or wet hire is the route |
| Has your operator run this model before? | How much familiarisation to allow for on delivery |
| Is there anything live nearby, and at what voltage? | Whether an insulated machine is required, and at what rating |
| Do you have approval from the asset owner? | Whether the work can lawfully proceed |
| What is the ground like where the legs go? | Whether the machine can be stabilised safely |
| What is your rescue plan? | Whether anyone has thought about retrieval |
| How long is the hire? | Three months or more for dry hire, wet hire for shorter |
EWP licence Victoria: what to have ready before the machine arrives
Short list, and none of it takes long.
The operator’s licence, current and to hand. The machine’s compliance plate details and its current test records, which come from us. Your risk assessment for the work. Approval from the asset owner if anything live is involved. A rescue plan. And an honest note of whether the operator has run that model before.
Get those together and an EWP licence Victoria question turns into a five-minute check rather than a delay on the morning of the job. If any of them is missing, tell us before the machine is booked rather than after, and we will work out what suits.
None of this is us being difficult. It is the same list we work through ourselves, because we run these machines on our own jobs every day.
Where the responsibility sits on a dry hire
On a dry hire the machine is ours and the operation is yours, and it is worth being explicit about where the line falls because it catches people out.
We are responsible for supplying a machine that is compliant, current on its inspections and tests, and fit for the work you described when you booked. That means the three-monthly safety inspection, the six-monthly electrical test that confirms it is safe to be working with and around live power lines, the twelve-monthly load test on the boom, basket and legs, and the certification behind all of it. You never pay towards any of that, and you can see the records.
You are responsible for who operates it, what they are licensed and familiarised to do, the risk assessment for the work, the approvals where anything live is involved, the ground it stands on, and the plan for getting someone down.
On a wet hire the operating side moves to us, because our operator is in the seat with the ticket. Control of the workplace stays with whoever controls the site either way.
If you are unsure which side of that line something falls on, ask before the machine arrives. We would far rather answer it then.
Which machine suits which job
Every tower in our fleet is an insulated EWP, so the question is never which one is better. It is which one carries what your job needs. Three figures decide it — working height, outreach and basket capacity — and a fourth, the insulation rating and the conditions it holds in, decides whether the machine can be near the line at all.
Working heights below come off the compliance plates rather than brochures. Where a manufacturer does not publish a figure it is shown as on request rather than estimated, because a made-up spec on a hire page is a safety problem rather than a cosmetic one.
| Machine | Working height | Outreach | Basket | Insulation |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| GMJ LL22.350 | 23.5 m | 13 m | 350 kg | 66/33/LV on the plate |
| Redmond Gary TF17M | 19 m | 13 m | 325 kg | 132 kV — dry, wet and precipitation |
| Sherrin 18 m | 18 m | 11.1 m | 350 kg | 132 kV, Glove & Barrier build |
| GMJ TT16.300 | 17.5 m | On request | 250 kg | On the plate — ask us for your job |
| Terex Hi-Ranger LT40 | 13.8 m | 9 m | 181 kg | ANSI Category C under A92.2 |
| Versalift SST-37 | 12.8 m | 8.5 m | On request | Fitted as an option — ask first |
| Altec AT30C | On request | On request | On request | On request |
The tallest tower we run, and the one that goes out when nothing shorter will reach — 13 metres of outreach still intact at full height, on a basket that takes two people and what they bring down.
Rated 132 kV dry, wet and in precipitation, which is the rating that matters when the job does not stop because the weather turned. Long outreach for its height.
A Glove & Barrier build on a 350 kg basket. The one to ask about when the work is close-quarters on live gear rather than simply near it.
A mid-height tower that gets into ground the bigger machines cannot. Ask us for the plate figures against your specific job rather than working off a brochure.
Compact and quick to set up, rated ANSI Category C under A92.2. Suits tight residential access where a full-size tower simply will not fit.
Low travel height, which is what gets it under a carpark header or a low branch line. Insulation is fitted as an option, so confirm it before the job is booked.
A compact telescopic tower. We publish figures off the compliance plate rather than the brochure, so ask us and we will send the plate for the unit going to your job.
Every tower above travels to Melbourne, Geelong, Ballarat, Bendigo, Shepparton and Gippsland — driven to site under its own power, not floated in on a separate truck.
Which one to take when the forecast is against you
This separates the fleet more than height does, and it is the question people ask last.
An insulation rating holds under stated conditions. Most insulated towers carry a rating for clean, dry conditions and a lower one for wet. The Redmond Gary TF17M is the one certified across dry, wet and precipitation at 132 kV, which is why it is the machine that goes out when rain is forecast and the work cannot wait.
That is not a mark against the others — it is what that particular machine has. For everything else in the fleet the rated conditions are on the plate, and the practical answer is to tell us the job and the forecast and we will tell you which tower is rated for it. We would far rather have that conversation on the phone than have you find out on the day.
Two things do not change with the weather: the six-monthly electrical test that confirms the machine is safe to be working with and around live power lines, and the fact that a replacement tower comes out if yours has to leave you.
Tree work near the line, and work on the line
Nearly everything our towers go out on is one of two jobs, and they pull in different directions.
Tree work near a live service is about reach and what comes down. You are standing off the conductor and working over or around it, so outreach matters more than raw height, and basket capacity matters because limbs come back with you. The GMJ LL22.350 and the Sherrin 18 m both carry 350 kg for exactly that reason.
Work on the line itself is about the insulation rating and the conditions, and often about getting into a tighter spot at a lower height. That is where the Terex Hi-Ranger LT40 earns its place — a light Class 5 chassis with a fibreglass boom that goes where a bigger truck cannot.
We are arborists as well as machine specialists, and the towers are out on our own tree jobs every day. That is why the fleet is shaped the way it is rather than standardised on one model.
Whatever you call it — insulated EWP hire, travel tower hire, cherry picker hire, a bucket truck, a boom lift or a man lift — describe the job and we will match the machine to it.
Insulated EWP hire across Victoria
Every tower is a truck, so it drives to you under its own power and sets up on its own legs. There is no float to book and no crane at either end, which is why distance behaves differently for us than it does for hire companies working off floated plant.
We hire right across Victoria. Beyond the towns above we run into Dandenong and the outer east, right through Gippsland where we are based, and up into the north-east — the Wangaratta and Wodonga side of the state is no trouble at all, we are over that way regularly. If your job is somewhere not listed here it is almost certainly still covered: insulated EWP hire across Victoria.
Tell us the job. We will tell you the tower.
Wet hire or dry hire, anywhere in Victoria, with a replacement machine behind it from the first day.
Frequently asked questions
Do you need a licence to operate an EWP in Victoria?
Is the 11 metres working height or boom length?
Does a licence for over 11 metres cover machines under 11 metres?
How long is an EWP high risk work licence valid for?
Can I hire an EWP without a licence at all?
What is a Yellow Card?
Is a high risk work licence needed for every EWP?
Is boom length the same as working height?
Does a licence from another state work in Victoria?
Is the Yellow Card a licence?
Do I still need familiarisation if my operator is ticketed?
Does hiring an insulated machine mean I can work near power lines?
What if nobody on my crew is ticketed?
Who is responsible for the rescue plan?
Who checks the machine is compliant, me or the hire company?
Can I see the machine’s test records?
Read next
Valley Wide Tree Services / 1800 GO TREES
Insulated EWP hire, Victoria
We run and maintain our own fleet of insulated elevating work platforms from a workshop in the Latrobe Valley, and we have been putting machines on Victorian jobs for years. Everything here is written from running them, not from a brochure.
Sources & references
- WorkSafe Victoria — High risk work licence: What a high risk work licence covers in Victoria, who needs one and how it is obtained.
- WorkSafe Victoria — Safe work practices using elevating work platforms: The regulator’s practical guidance note. States that a boom-type EWP with a boom length over 11 metres requires the operator to hold a high risk work licence.
- WorkSafe Victoria — Elevating work platforms: The Victorian regulator’s guidance on selecting, setting up and operating an EWP, including the duties that sit with whoever controls the workplace.
- Victorian Occupational Health and Safety Regulations 2017: The regulations that set out licensing, plant and high risk work duties in Victoria.
- Elevating Work Platform Association of Australia: The national industry association for elevating work platforms, and the body behind the Yellow Card operator familiarisation programme.
- Standards Australia — AS 2550.10, Cranes, hoists and winches: safe use of elevating work platforms: The standard covering inspection intervals, operator requirements and the periodic major inspection regime that a hire fleet’s service schedule is built on.
General information only, current at the time of writing. Requirements change and every site is different. Confirm the rules that apply to your job with the relevant authority and with whoever controls the workplace before work starts.
