Another warning on falsified High Risk Work Licences

WorkSafe has issued a further warning to carefully check High Risk Work Licences after discovering another falsified licence.

WorkSafe WA Commissioner Ian Munns said today WorkSafe had recently been alerted to a licence that had been altered to include classes of high risk work for which the licence holder had not been trained.

In this latest instance, a licence was presented to WorkSafe in the Northern Territory with a request to transfer the licence, and NT WorkSafe sent an electronic copy to WorkSafe WA so the licence could be transferred to NT.

“Upon investigation, it was found that the licence that had been issued was only for one class of high risk work, not the five it showed,” Mr Munns said.

“The licence was issued to the person in question, but only for Basic Rigging class.  Classes for Advanced Rigging, Boom-type Elevated Work Platform, Forklift Trucks, Order Picking Forklift Trucks and Slewing Mobile Cranes over 100 tonnes had been added at a later date.

“As is common with these cases the falsification was not very convincing, with some of the added parts printed in a different type and size font from the rest of the licence, and commas used when they are not on a genuine licence.

“High Risk Work Licences are only issued to workers who have been appropriately trained and have the skills to perform high risk work safely and competently.

“They apply to anyone engaged in work considered to be “high risk”, including scaffolding, dogging and rigging work and the operation of cranes, hoists, pressure equipment and forklifts.

“Our advice to potential employers or anyone in control of a workplace is to satisfy yourself that anyone you are thinking of employing for high risk work has the experience they claim to have.

“Always sight the original High Risk Work Licence card – don’t be satisfied with an emailed or texted scan or photo of the licence.

“Anyone who has concerns about a High Risk Work Licence can verify the details using the WorkSafe licence and registration search located on the Department of Mines, Industry Regulation and Safety website.

“If the person cannot be found on the licence and registration data base or the classes shown differ from the licence that has been presented, please contact WorkSafe so the issue can be followed up.

“Finally, it’s important to note that the cases of fraud in relation to High Risk Work Licences we have discovered – including this one – are referred to the relevant Police authority, in this case NT Police.”

Further information can be obtained by telephoning WorkSafe on 1300 307877 or on the website at www.worksafe.wa.gov.au.

Media contact: Caroline De Vaney 6251 2363 or 0408 927563 (media enquiries only)
caroline.devaney@dmirs.wa.gov.au
Follow @WorkSafeWA on Twitter

WorkSafe
Media release
23 Jul 2018

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