Does an LF licence cover order pickers?

No. LF covers counterbalance, reach and very narrow aisle trucks, all operated from ground level. Order pickers, which lift the operator up with the load, need the separate LO licence.

Can someone hold both LF and LO?

Yes, they're separate licences, not tiers of the same one, and plenty of operators hold both. Holding one doesn't automatically grant the other.

Who issues LF and LO licences?

The WHS regulator in the state or territory where the licence is obtained, under the harmonised high-risk work licensing scheme, the same issuing body for both classes.

Why does the LO/LF distinction matter for racking work specifically?

Order pickers are the trucks that actually lift a person up into the rack structure to pick at height. Assuming an LF ticket covers that work puts an unlicensed operator at height, which is exactly the gap this distinction exists to close.

Is this the same as being trained on a specific order picker model?

No. The LO licence is the legal authorisation to operate that truck class. Site-specific familiarisation on the actual model and workplace is a separate step on top of it.

LO vs LF forklift licence: why they are not the same

LF and LO are separate high-risk work licence classes, both issued by state WHS regulators, and one doesn't cover the other. An LF ticket qualifies someone for a counterbalance or reach truck. It does not qualify them for an order picker, and order pickers are what take people up into the racking.

Last updated 2026-08-24

Two licences, not one with two names

Australia's high-risk work licensing scheme splits forklift operation into separate classes rather than one general forklift ticket, and LF and LO are the two that matter for anything covered in this silo. Both are genuine statutory credentials issued by the state or territory WHS regulator where the licence is obtained, not a training provider's completion certificate — see how the licensing scheme is structured for the full picture this page zooms in on.

That's a genuinely different situation to racking inspection, where no licence or register exists at all — the closest thing is a competent person with declared experience, not a government-issued credential.

What LF actually covers

LF covers forklift trucks generally: counterbalance forklifts, reach trucks and very narrow aisle trucks all sit under this one class, because all three are load-shifting trucks the operator drives from a stationary or travelling position. The forks move the load; the operator stays where they are.

What LO actually covers, and why it's separate

LO covers order-picking trucks specifically, and the reason it's a genuinely different licence rather than an LF add-on is the risk itself: an order picker lifts the operator up with the load, working directly at height rather than staying at ground level. That's a materially different hazard profile to anything LF covers, which is exactly why an LF ticket does not extend to order-picking work. Someone needs the LO licence specifically, even if they already hold LF.

Why this matters so much around racking

Order pickers are the trucks that actually take a person up into the rack structure to pick cartons off a beam level, not just move pallets past it, and it interacts directly with pedestrian and forklift separation at ground level too, since a picker at height has different sightlines than a truck operating on the floor.

Confusing LF for LO coverage means an operator ends up either turned away on site or, worse, put to work at height on equipment they were never licensed for. This is also the licensed, formal version of a real informal problem: staff climbing into racking to retrieve a jammed pallet, without any licence, training or tie-off point at all, is a separate and more serious hazard again, one no licence class makes acceptable.

Getting it right when hiring or rostering

Job ads and rosters that just say "forklift licence required" are the exact ambiguity that causes this confusion on site. Anyone rostering someone onto an order picker specifically needs to confirm LO, not just check that an LF card exists, and the reverse holds too, since an LO licence on its own doesn't authorise someone to drive a counterbalance or reach truck. Budgeting for a new LO ticket alongside an existing LF one is also worth doing with real numbers — course pricing is not uniform nationally, and what training actually costs state by state sets out why.

Holding the right licence class is also only the legal starting point, not the whole answer. Site-specific familiarisation on the actual truck and the actual beam levels an operator will be working still matters on top of it, the same way it does for any other high-risk work licence class.

Common questions

Does an LF licence cover order pickers?: No. LF covers counterbalance, reach and very narrow aisle trucks, all operated from ground level. Order pickers, which lift the operator up with the load, need the separate LO licence.
Can someone hold both LF and LO?: Yes, they're separate licences, not tiers of the same one, and plenty of operators hold both. Holding one doesn't automatically grant the other.
Who issues LF and LO licences?: The WHS regulator in the state or territory where the licence is obtained, under the harmonised high-risk work licensing scheme, the same issuing body for both classes.
Why does the LO/LF distinction matter for racking work specifically?: Order pickers are the trucks that actually lift a person up into the rack structure to pick at height. Assuming an LF ticket covers that work puts an unlicensed operator at height, which is exactly the gap this distinction exists to close.
Is this the same as being trained on a specific order picker model?: No. The LO licence is the legal authorisation to operate that truck class. Site-specific familiarisation on the actual model and workplace is a separate step on top of it.

Part of our guide to warehouse forklifts.