Which Plant Must Be Registered in Victoria? A Manufacturer's Guide

Which plant must be registered in Victoria?

Most plant on a Victorian factory floor doesn't need to be registered with WorkSafe — general item registration was abolished in 2014. What still matters is whether your plant's design falls into one of 15 high-risk categories under Schedule 2 of the OHS Regulations 2017, such as tower cranes, lifts and large mobile cranes.

If it does, it's the design — not each individual machine — that has to be registered with WorkSafe before it's used in a workplace.

Didn't Victoria scrap plant registration?

Partly, and this is where most confusion comes from. Since 1 July 2014, Victorian employers are no longer required to register individual items of plant with WorkSafe, or re-register them every five years — that whole system was abolished (WorkSafe Victoria, page reviewed 26 July 2022). If you're used to the item-registration rules in Queensland, NSW, SA or WA, Victoria works differently.

What survived 2014 is design registration. Certain plant types are considered high-risk enough that their design has to be checked and registered with WorkSafe before any workplace uses them — regardless of how many individual machines are built to that design.

Which plant designs actually need to be registered?

The plant requiring design registration is set out in Schedule 2 of the OHS Regulations 2017 (WorkSafe Victoria, page reviewed 1 July 2025):

Plant type	Notes
Pressure equipment	Exceptions listed in clause 1.1 of Schedule 2
Tower cranes	Excludes foundations, supporting structure and crane ties
Self-erecting tower cranes	—
Lifts, escalators and moving walks	Exceptions listed in clause 1.4
Building maintenance units	—
Hoists designed to lift persons	Where platform movement exceeds 2.4 metres
Work boxes suspended from cranes	—
Amusement structures	Where AS 3533.1 applies, subject to exceptions in clause 1.8
Prefabricated scaffolding	Integrated systems with predetermined assembly geometry
Boom-type elevating work platforms	—
Gantry cranes over 5 tonnes / bridge cranes over 10 tonnes	Also any gantry or bridge crane handling molten metal or dangerous goods
Vehicle hoists	—
Mast climbing work platforms	—
Mobile cranes over 10 tonnes	Excludes reach stackers
Chairlifts	—
Concrete-placing booms	—

If a piece of plant isn't on this list — a standard forklift, a bandsaw, a scissor lift, a conveyor — it doesn't need design registration in Victoria. That doesn't mean it's exempt from safety duties; it just sits outside this specific scheme.

What if the plant design changes?

If a registered design is altered enough to introduce new risk-control measures, the altered design also has to be registered with WorkSafe before use (WorkSafe Victoria, reviewed 1 July 2025). Registration of a plant design, and of an altered design, doesn't expire — it's a one-off registration tied to the design, not a recurring renewal.

What does registration cost?

For the 2026–27 financial year, registering or amending a plant design costs 20 fee units, which is $345.40 (excluding GST) for either the initial registration or a subsequent alteration (WorkSafe Victoria, licence fees page, reviewed 30 June 2026). Fees are reviewed each financial year, so confirm the current rate on WorkSafe's site before you apply.

Amusement structures are the one exception still running a separate item-based registration: WorkSafe lists a specific "item of plant registration for amusement structures" fee, currently $93.30 to register or renew (WorkSafe Victoria, licence fees page, reviewed 30 June 2026). That's a narrow carve-out for showground and amusement operators — it doesn't change the position for general manufacturing plant.

What records do you still need to keep, even if nothing is registrable?

Registration and record-keeping are two different obligations. Under the OHS Act 2004, employers must still provide and maintain plant that is, so far as reasonably practicable, safe and without risks to health — whether or not that plant appears on the Schedule 2 list. Where regulation 106 of the OHS Regulations applies, you also need to keep records of inspection and maintenance carried out on that plant, for as long as you have management or control of it (WorkSafe Victoria, reviewed 26 July 2022).

In practice, this is where a lot of factories fall down — not because they've missed a registration, but because their maintenance records for pressure vessels, cranes or hoists are incomplete, scattered across paper logs, or simply can't be produced on the spot when an inspector asks. Having a safety manager on call who keeps that register current, alongside your other plant and machinery records, is usually a bigger risk reducer than the registration question itself.

FAQ

Does every crane on site need to be registered in Victoria? No. It depends on crane type and rated capacity. Tower cranes and self-erecting tower cranes need design registration regardless of capacity. Mobile cranes only need it above 10 tonnes rated capacity (excluding reach stackers), gantry cranes above 5 tonnes, and bridge cranes above 10 tonnes — or any gantry or bridge crane used for molten metal or dangerous goods, regardless of capacity (WorkSafe Victoria, reviewed 1 July 2025).

Do I need to re-register plant every year, or every five years, in Victoria? No. Victoria abolished item registration and five-yearly re-registration on 1 July 2014. Where design registration applies, it doesn't expire at all — it's registered once against the design (WorkSafe Victoria, reviewed 26 July 2022 and 1 July 2025).

My plant isn't on the Schedule 2 list — am I off the hook? Not entirely. You still carry general duties under the OHS Act 2004 to maintain plant safely, and, where regulation 106 applies, to keep inspection and maintenance records for it. Registration and maintenance are separate obligations.

If you're not sure whether your plant designs, maintenance records or registers would hold up under a WorkSafe visit, Ardmor runs practical, on-site safety assessments for Victorian manufacturers — a second set of eyes before WorkSafe's.

This article is general information for Victorian manufacturers, not legal advice. Last updated: 29 July 2026.