7 jobs where you'll need a Heavy Rigid Licence

Thinking of getting a Heavy Rigid Licence but not sure what opportunities it will provide? Looking at various jobs and wondering if a HR licence is required?

We’ve all been there and it’s a big step, not to mention a big investment – so it pays to have an idea of what direction you want to go and what some of the possibilities are after actually getting the licence.

To get started, here are 7 jobs that require a HR licence:

Dangerous Goods Transport

A Heavy Rigid (HR) Licence is a great stepping stone into the world of transporting freight Dangerous Goods (DG). Many different companies need large quantities of DG transported either locally, around the State or even on a national scale, so this type of work has a large variety of opportunities.

Additional training that will be required for this type of work is a Dangerous Goods Licence.

Fuel-Tanker Driver

With several big fuel companies operating in Australia, there is a need for heavy vehicle drivers to transport fuel right across the country. Even though fuel is theoretically classified as a DG and requires the Dangerous Goods Licence training, it differs quite a bit from general freight DG transport.

For this type of work you will also need to do the Safe Load Program (or SLP) course, which is essentially an induction into the fuel-tanker industry, following which you will complete the rest of that training in-house once you start employment with one of the various fuel companies.

Bus or Coach Driver

Another area where an HR licence will gain you work is the public transport and private coaches industry. While most public buses will only be 2-axled and hence only require the Medium Rigid (MR) licence to drive, the HR licence extends your ability allowing you to drive the regular buses, but also any larger variants, like articulated (“bendy”) buses.

With the private coaches, most of these will be 3-axled, HR vehicles to cope with combined passenger & luggage load.

Some additional training is needed for this type of work, specifically a Bus Driver Authority (BDA). This extra training is a requirement by Transport NSW for anyone wishing to drive public passenger vehicles.

Waste removal (garbage/recycling truck)

A great place to look for starter HR jobs is at your local council, specifically in waste removal.

The vehicles used to collect garbage and recycling from around your local area require HR licence holders and it’s a great place to start your truck-driving career and gain valuable experience to help you gain further HR-related work in the future.

Construction/Mining

Both the mining and construction industries need HR drivers. Whether it’s hauling materials to or from the mine/worksite, or vehicle-mounted cranes and Elevated Work Platforms (EWPs), there is always a need for HR drivers in these workplaces.

Additional training that may be required, specifically in the construction industry, is the White Card (general WHS specific to construction sites).

General Freight (eg removalist)

Jobs in general freight cartage are always looking for HR drivers to drive their vehicles. One specific example would be removalist companies. Removalists use large, HR vehicles to carry and move around their various loads of furniture and white-goods.

Additional training that may benefit you in these areas could be Manual Handling training to ensure any physical lifting you do is done safely and efficiently. Depending on the load and unload procedure of the company itself, you may also benefit from a forklift licence course, to be useful in warehousing situations

Interstate/Long-Distance haulage

With several of the examples above, the transporting of freight may need to extend beyond local or intra-state travel, and extend into national, inter-state transport.

These jobs will often require a larger licence, whether it be a Heavy Combination (HC) or Multi-Combination (MC). Both of these licences require a driver to have a minimum of 1 year experience in an HR vehicle, so if the bigger vehicles are your end-goal, the HR is where you’ll need to start to build up your experience.

Want to find out more about how to get a HR licence?

In brief the very first step is to do the knowledge test at the RMS/Services NSW and to get your training logbook. Once that side of things is done, you would be ready to book training dates in.

To get you started we can send an email with some helpful links for that part of the process - fill in the form linked below and we'll do the rest.

Helpful Links For The Knowledge Test

Also for more information about the cost of a HR Licence and all other details related to the different options see our Heavy Rigid Licence page.