Plant item and design registration

Access Canberra administers the provision of Plant Item Registrations on behalf of the WorkSafe ACT Commissioner.

Plant items must be registered for use in the ACT under the  Work Health and Safety Act 2011 (the Act) and Work Health and Safety Regulation 2011 (the Regulation).

The purpose of registering an item of plant is to ensure that it is inspected by a competent person and is safe to operate. It is an offence to use plant if the Regulation requires the plant to be registered.

Plant designs must be registered for use in the ACT under the Act and the Regulation.

Manufacturers, importers and suppliers must not supply plant unless the design is registered. It is an offence to use plant if the Regulation requires the plant's design to be registered.

If you manage plant in the ACT, you may have to register it with Access Canberra.

Plant can include machinery, appliances, equipment and tools. For example, lifts, escalators, moving walkways, cranes, boilers, pressure vessels, amusement rides and forklifts.

Check if you must register a plant or plant design

You can apply to register a plant item or plant design if you are a person conducting a business or undertaking (PCBU) that either:

• manages or controls an item of plant at an ACT workplace
• designs an item of plant for use in an ACT workplace.

The PCBU may be:

• an individual
• a company
• a body corporate
• a government agency
• a partnership
• an unincorporated association
• a manufacturer, importer or supplier of plant.

If your workplace is outside the ACT, you'll need to include evidence to justify your registration.

If you have already registered a plant item or plant design in another state, you do not need to register it in the ACT.

Plant items you must register

• Boilers categorised as hazard level A, B or C in AS 4343:2014 (Pressure equipment – Hazard levels) section 2.1
• Pressure vessels categorised as hazard level A, B or C in AS 4343:2014 (Pressure equipment – Hazard levels) section 2.1
• Tower cranes including self‑erecting tower cranes
• Lifts, escalators and moving walkways
• Building maintenance units
• Amusement devices covered by AS 3533.1:2009 (Amusement rides and devices – Design and construction) section 2.1
• Concrete placing booms
• Mobile cranes with a rated capacity greater than 10 tonnes.

Items you do not need to register

You do not need to register:

• manually operated cranes or hoists
• the following A, B or C hazard level pressure vessels:
  • gas cylinders
  • LPG fuel vessels for automotive use
  • serially produced vessels.
• amusement devices that are:
  • class 1 devices
  • playground devices
  • water slides
  • wave generators where users do not have contact with parts of machinery used for generating waves
  • sealed inflatable devices
  • inflatable devices that do not use a non-return valve.

Apply for plant item registration

Before you start, you will need:

• the applicant’s details
• confirmation of whether the applicant is a body corporate
• the business name and certificate or other written evidence of the registration of the business name, if the applicant conducts the business or undertaking under a business name
• photo identification, if applying as an individual
• sufficient information to clearly identify the item of plant:
  • Manufacturer details
  • Year of manufacturer
  • Model number
  • Serial number or unique plant identification number
  • Date plant was commissioned or first registered (whichever occurred first)
  • Date inspected
  • Details of person inspecting the items
• the plant design registration number and issuing authority
• a statement that the item of plant has been inspected by a competent person and assessed by that person as being safe to operate. The statement should include the serial number or unique identifying number of plant
• address of plant item
• a declaration if the item of plant is not registered under a corresponding WHS law
• justification for the registration, if the item is located outside the ACT.

Apply for plant item registration

After you apply

A registration of an item of plant takes effect on the day it is granted for a period of 5 years. It can take up to 120 days for your application to be assessed.

Your plant registration obligations

After you register your plant item, you have the following obligations.

Renew plant registration

Your plant registration is valid for 5 years from the day we approve it. The application must be made before the expiry of the registration .

Before you start the renewal process, you will need:

• the applicants’ details
• proof of identity required by the Regulator (photo identification, if applying as an individual)
• a certificate or other written evidence of the registration of the business name, if the applicant conducts the business or undertaking under a business name
• the registration number of the item of plant
• a declaration that the item of plant has been maintained, inspected and tested
• to complete the online Plant item registration form, by selecting ‘Renewal’ under ‘Type of licence’.

New plant designs you must register

Access Canberra administers the provision of Plant Item Design on behalf of the WorkSafe ACT Commissioner.

Plant designs must be registered for use in the ACT under the Act and the Regulation.

Manufacturers, importers and suppliers must not supply plant unless the design is registered. It is an offence to use plant if the Regulation requires the plant's design to be registered.

• Pressure equipment categorised as hazard level A, B, C or D in AS 4343:2014 (Pressure equipment –  hazard levels) section 2.1
• Gas cylinders covered by section AS 2030.1:2009 (Gas cylinders – General Requirements)
• Tower cranes including self-erecting tower cranes
• Lifts, including escalators and moving walkways
• Building maintenance units
• Hoists with a platform movement exceeding 2.4 metres, designed to lift people
• Work boxes designed to be suspended from a crane
• Amusement devices classified by AS 3533.1:2009 (Amusement rides and devices – design and construction)
• Passenger ropeways
• Concrete placing booms
• Prefabricated scaffolding
• Boom-type elevating work platforms
• Gantry cranes with a safe working load greater than 5 t or bridge cranes with a safe working load of greater than 10 t, and any gantry crane or bridge crane which is designed to handle molten metal or schedule 11 hazardous chemicals
• Vehicle hoists
• Mast climbing work platforms
• Mobile cranes with a rated capacity of greater than 10 t.

Designs you do not need to register

• Amusement devices that are:
  • class 1 devices
  • playground devices
  • water slides
  • wave generators where patrons do not come into contact with the parts of machinery used for generating water waves
  • inflatable devices that are sealed
  • inflatable devices that do not use a non-return valve
• Heritage boiler
• Any pressure equipment (other than a gas cylinder) excluded from the scope of AS/NZS 1200:2015
• A crane or hoist that is manually powered
• A reach stacker
• An elevating work platform that is a scissor lift or a vertically-moving platform
• A tow truck.

Design verification

A design verifier must verify the design complies with the published technical standards or engineering principles specified in the designer's statement:

The design verification statement must:

• be in writing and signed by a person who is eligible to be a design verifier for the design
• state that the design was produced in accordance with published technical standards or engineering principles states in the statement
• include the name, business address and qualifications (if applicable) of the design verifier
• if applicable, include the name and business address of the organisation for which the design verifier works.

A person may act as a design verifier for an item of plant if they are a competent person and were not involved in producing the design.

A verifier that was employed by a PCBU when the design was produced may still verify the design if the PCBU uses a plant design system certified by a body accredited or approved by the Joint Accreditation System of Australia and New Zealand.

It is an offence to make a design verification statement if:

• you are not eligible
• you have not verified the design.

A design verifier of an item of plant must document the verification process and the results of that process.

If the designer lives overseas in a non-English speaking country, the designer’s statement must be in English or translated into English.

Apply for plant design registration

Before you start, you will need:

• the applicants’ details
• confirmation of whether the applicant is a body corporate
• a certificate or other written evidence of the registration of the business name, if the applicant conducts the business or undertaking under a business name
• proof of the applicant’s identity, if required by the Regulator
• a statement signed by the designer of the item of plant:
• stating that the designer has complied with the designer’s obligations under the Act, section 22 (Duties of persons conducting business or undertakings that design plant, substance or structures) in relation to the design
• stating the published technical standards and engineering principals used in the design
• a design verification statement
• representational drawings of the design
• a declaration that the applicant does not hold an equivalent registration under a corresponding WHS law.

Apply for plant design registration

After you apply

It can take up to 120 days to assess your application.

Your plant design registration obligations

After you register your plant design, you have the following obligations.

Change a plant design

You must register changes to a plant design that may affect health and safety.

To change a plant design:

1. Fill in the Design registration application form.
2. Select ‘Design variation’ under ‘application type’.

If you have already registered the alteration with the Regulator that registered the original design, you do not need to register the change with us.

Application fees

Fees are determined by the Work Health and Safety (Fees) Determination for the relevant financial year.

See the Work Health and Safety Act 2011, Regulations and Instruments.

Get a decision reviewed

You can ask us to review our decision if we:

• refused your application
• changed your application in a way you did not ask us to
• imposed conditions on your registration
• refused to issue a replacement registration document.

To ask for a decision review, you must be either:

• the registration holder
• a person with management or control of a plant item.

We will do an internal review first. If you’re not satisfied with the outcome, you can apply to the ACT Civil and Administrative Tribunal (ACAT) for an independent review.

To ask for a review of the decision, contact Access Canberra.

Report a workplace concern or issue

You can report a workplace concern or issue to either:

• WorkSafe ACT
• Access Canberra.