In April 2006, the Australian Safety and Compensation Council issued the revised National Standard for Licensing Persons Performing High Risk Work. This national standard now includes forklift trucks and order picker trucks. Among other things, the standard requires forklift operators and order picker operators to have a state or territory issued operator's license with photograph. The operator must be able to produce the license upon request of the licensing authority or the Commonwealth regulating agency. An employer cannot allow a person to operate a forklift or order picker truck without a valid license. The license must be renewed every five years. Although the standard is currently advisory in nature, states and territories can enact legislation to make the requirements mandatory

If a state or territory adopts this standard, the Australian Government, Department of Education, Science, and Training would become the lead agency for controlling basic forklift training within that Australian state or territory and any Registered Training Organization (RTO) would have to meet the Australian Quality Training Framework (AQTF) Standards for Registered Training Organizations.

The assessment criteria and units of competency for the new standard, as far as I know, are still in process but will most likely be similar to those in the current loadshifting standard.

I have read opinions on this subject from the governmental Occupational Health and Safety (OHS) sector and the Vocational Education & Training (VET) sector. I have not found many opinions from the private sector.

I am interested in the opinions of the operators, trainers, and employers who will be impacted by this new Australian standard should it be adopted.