IN late January Worksafe announced the introduction of a new Telehandler, or ‘TV’ licence for operation of a Telehandler with three tonne or greater capacity. 

Whilst there has been a fair bit of negative feedback from farmers, in essence this licence will actually simplify the licencing requirement. Currently to operate a telehandler with three tonne or more capacity, an operator should hold a WorkSafe High Risk Crane (CN) licence. This course is run over four-five days, you generally have to go to Melbourne to complete it, and it contains modules such as dogging and rigging that are completely unrelated to farm operations.