Dogging and Rigging Licences in Victoria: What a Factory Actually Needs

What dogging work actually is

"Dogging work" has a precise legal meaning, and it's narrower than most plant managers assume. WorkSafe Victoria defines it as applying slinging techniques — including selecting and inspecting lifting gear — to safely sling a load, or directing a crane or hoist operator when the load is out of the operator's view.

The key word is judgement. A dogger (or "dogman") is exercising judgement when they choose the sling type, pick shackles and fittings and decide how they're orientated, confirm working load limits, calculate the weight of a load that isn't marked, check gear against discard criteria, choose the hitch type, decide where the gear attaches to the load, or decide whether to shorten a sling. If none of that judgement is needed — because the load, its mass and its centre of gravity are fixed and known — the task may not be dogging work at all, even though someone is physically putting chains or slings on a load.

Anyone doing dogging work needs a Dogging High Risk Work Licence (class DG), unless an exemption applies (more on that below). It's a separate competency from rigging and crane operation, even though the three overlap heavily on a factory floor.

Rigging work: why there are three licence classes, not one

Rigging work is defined nationally (and adopted into Victoria's licensing scheme) as the use of mechanical load-shifting equipment and associated gear to move, place or secure a load. What separates the three rigging licence classes is the type of structure or equipment involved, not the weight of the load:

• Basic rigging (RB) covers structural steel erection, hoists, pre-cast concrete members of a structure, safety nets and static lines, mast climbing work platforms, perimeter safety screens and shutters, and cantilevered crane loading platforms.
• Intermediate rigging (RI) adds hoists with jibs and self-climbing hoists, cranes, conveyors, dredges and excavators, tilt slabs, demolition of structures or plant, and dual lifts.
• Advanced rigging (RA) adds gin poles and shear legs, flying foxes and cable ways, guyed derricks and structures, and suspended and fabricated hung scaffolds — the same suspended-scaffold work covered in our scaffolding high risk work licence guide, which is why riggers and scaffolders often train through the same provider.

Each level builds on the one below it, and training providers typically sequence RB → RI → RA. Usefully for a fabrication shop: a rigging licence already includes the Dogging Unit of Competency, so an RB, RI or RA holder can also legally do dogging work without holding a separate DG card.

Does your forklift or crane licence already cover this?

This is where most Victorian manufacturers get tripped up, and WorkSafe Victoria has published guidance specifically to clear it up.

Crane licences — yes, but only for your own crane. A holder of a Vehicle Loading Crane (CV) or Bridge and Gantry Crane (CB) licence — see our overhead crane licence guide for what that licence itself requires — can do dogging work (load estimation and slinging) without a separate DG licence, but only for the specific crane type named on their own licence. The vehicle loading crane class is explicitly defined as covering "use of a vehicle loading crane … including load estimation and slinging." Step outside that — direct a different crane, or a hoist — and the exemption no longer applies.

Forklift licences — no. The forklift truck and order-picking forklift truck licence classes cover only the use of the forklift itself. Neither class description extends to slinging judgement or to directing another operator when a load is out of view. If a forklift task requires someone to sling a load with chains or webbing and make a judgement call about the gear, or to direct the forklift driver around a blind corner with the load out of sight, that's dogging work — the forklift ticket doesn't cover it, and someone on site needs a DG (or rigging) licence, or the predetermined-technique exception below has to apply. Our forklift high risk work licence guide covers what the forklift ticket itself does and doesn't permit.

The exception that matters most on a production line

Many manufacturers assume every sling job needs a licensed dogger standing over it. WorkSafe Victoria's guidance on dogging and slinging allows a narrower, practical exception for exactly the kind of repetitive lifting a fabrication or production line runs all day: where the lifting gear and slinging method never change from load to load, the technique can be predetermined rather than judged fresh each time — provided all of the following hold:

• The equipment and method are fixed for each specific load type, with nothing left to vary.
• Lifting gear is minimised and easily identifiable (colour-coding is the common approach).
• A documented procedure specifies exactly how and where gear attaches.
• Gear is used, inspected, maintained and stored in line with the manufacturer's instructions and the relevant Australian Standards.
• The load stays within the crane or plant operator's direct view for the entire lift.
• Workers doing the task get sufficient training, instruction, information and supervision.

The predetermined technique itself must be set by someone suitably qualified — in practice, a DG licence holder, an RB/RI/RA rigging licence holder, or an experienced engineer. And the exception has a hard edge: the moment a load goes out of the operator's view and someone needs to direct the lift, that's dogging work requiring a DG licence, no matter how routine the procedure is. If loads start varying from what the documented procedure covers, you either bring in a licensed dogger or update the procedure and retrain the workers before continuing.

How to get licensed in Victoria

1. Train and get assessed through an authorised RTO. Find one via WorkSafe Victoria's authorised training and assessment provider directory. You'll need photo ID to enrol.
2. Lodge within 60 days. Once you pass, you get an Assessment Number or Notice of Assessment. You must lodge your WorkSafe application within 60 calendar days of that result, or you'll need to repeat the assessment at your own cost.
3. Apply to WorkSafe Victoria. The preferred route is online through myWorkSafe — you'll need your assessment number, an accepted proof-of-identity document (Australian passport, birth certificate, driver licence or Medicare card), and a card or PayPal payment. Approved applicants get a digital licence immediately and a physical card within 20 to 25 business days. If you can't complete the online ID check, you can instead lodge in person at Australia Post with a printed Notice of Assessment, 100 points of ID, a recent passport photo and payment.
4. Allow processing time. WorkSafe allows up to 45 calendar days to process an application, trackable online if you applied through myWorkSafe.

Fees: the application fee is $77.70 per licence class; renewal is $58.70; an interstate transfer is $58.70. Licences are valid for five years and can be renewed within 12 months of expiry — after that, you need to demonstrate exceptional circumstances or go back through training and assessment. High risk work licences are also generally recognised nationally, though it's worth confirming with the relevant regulator before sending a licensed worker to do dogging or rigging work interstate.

One more practical point for site supervisors: a worker enrolled in dogging training can legally do dogging work before they're licensed, provided a licensed dogger directly supervises them — useful for staging a new hire's training without idling them.

This article is general information for Victorian manufacturers, not legal advice. Last updated: 18 October 2026.