Free tool

Scaffold handover
certificate generator

Fill it in on your phone, tablet or laptop, sign it with your finger, and download a completed handover certificate as a PDF. Free, no account, and nothing you type is sent to us.

  • Built in your browser

    The certificate never leaves your device unless you choose to email it. We hold no copy.

  • Current standards

    References AS 4576:2020, which superseded AS/NZS 4576:1995 — the version most templates still cite.

  • Your logo, signed on site

    Add your company logo, then sign with a finger or stylus. Space for the client to sign their acceptance.

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Client & site

Who the scaffold is being handed to

Your certificate is built in your browser. Nothing you type here is sent to us, and we keep no copy of it.

What a handover certificate actually is

In the model WHS jurisdictions, a scaffold from which a person or thing could fall more than 4 metres must not be used until the person with management or control of it receives written confirmation from a competent person that construction has been completed. The handover certificate is that written confirmation. It is one of the few documents in Australian scaffolding practice that is genuinely required rather than customary.

That distinction matters, because a scaffold tag is not a substitute. SafeWork NSW puts it plainly in its Scaffolding Industry Safety Standard: tags “typically do not include the minimum amount of information required for a valid handover certificate, and thus cannot be used as such.”

Victoria is the exception to watch. Victoria never adopted the harmonised WHS laws, so there is no Victorian regulation 225 and no Victorian statutory 30-day inspection interval — duties there arise under the Occupational Health and Safety Act 2004, the OHS Regulations 2017 and WorkSafe Victoria’s Scaffolding Industry Standard.

What happens after handover

  • Keep it on site

    Keep the certificate available at the workplace until the scaffold is dismantled. SafeWork NSW asks for a copy to be available on site for the duration of the project.

  • Inspect at least every 30 days

    Where a person or thing could fall more than 4 metres, the scaffold and its supporting structure must be inspected by a competent person at least every 30 days. Thirty days is a maximum interval, not a schedule.

  • And after repairs or an incident

    Use must not resume after repairs, or after an incident that could reasonably be expected to affect the scaffold’s stability, until a competent person has inspected it. Note that the Australian rule has no “after alteration” trigger — that one belongs to the UK regulations and is frequently imported by mistake.

  • Record who, when and where

    Safe Work Australia’s guidance asks for the location, comments, date and time of each inspection, the relevant design or specification reference, and the person who carried it out.

FAQs

Frequently Asked Questions

Handover certificates, scaffold tags and what the rules in Australia actually ask for.

In substance, yes. WHS Regulation 225 requires written confirmation from a competent person that construction of the scaffold has been completed before the scaffold is used, where a person or thing could fall more than 4 metres. The handover certificate is how that confirmation is given. Victoria is not a model WHS jurisdiction and its duties arise under the OHS Act 2004 and OHS Regulations 2017 instead.

Sources

This page summarises published regulator guidance and is not legal advice. Requirements differ by jurisdiction and change over time.

Stop typing the same scaffold twice

Scafflinq keeps the scaffold, its handover and every inspection since in one record behind a QR scafftag. Start free with 5 tags.