Plant & Equipment

Dry hire vs wet hire describes the two ways construction plant is hired. Dry hire means hiring the machine only, with the hirer supplying the operator and running it. Wet hire means hiring the machine with a qualified operator supplied by the hire company, who usually also handles fuel and routine maintenance.

An EWP (elevating work platform) is mobile plant with a platform that lifts people, tools and materials to work at height, such as a scissor lift, boom lift or vertical lift. In Australia, operating a boom-type EWP with a boom length of 11 metres or more requires a WP high risk work licence.

A high risk work licence (HRWL) is a licence issued by a state or territory work health and safety regulator that lets a person carry out specified high risk work, such as operating cranes, forklifts or boom-type EWPs, scaffolding, dogging or rigging. The classes are set out in the model WHS Regulations.

Mobile plant is any plant that moves under its own power on a construction site, such as excavators, forklifts, telehandlers, EWPs, mobile cranes, rollers and dump trucks. Under the model WHS Regulations, powered mobile plant has specific control requirements for overturning, falling objects and collisions with people.

A plant risk assessment is a documented process of identifying the hazards of a specific item of plant, assessing the risks and setting controls so it can be used safely. In Australia it is the main way businesses meet their plant duties under the model WHS Regulations, and most sites require one before plant starts work.

Working at heights is any work where a person could fall from one level to another and be injured, such as on roofs, scaffolds, ladders, open edges or near holes and penetrations. Australian WHS laws require businesses to manage fall risks at any height, with a SWMS needed for construction work with a fall risk of more than 2 metres.