Insurables — Australian business risk, sourced and dated

HVAC technicians: workers compensation requirements in Australia

Statutory cover for injury to workers, arranged through each state or territory scheme rather than on the open market.

Data as at · refreshed by scripts/seed-graph.mjs

Verified requirements, by state

  • Licence liability condition: No public liability insurance condition or minimum limit attaches to a NSW air conditioning and refrigeration licence. Home building compensation cover is required per home building project over $20,000 including GST. NSW · effective 2026-08-13 — recorded with low confidence; check the source before relying on it Building Commission NSW · 2026-08-13
  • Licence evidence required: A certificate of eligibility to obtain insurance, where applicable, is listed among the documents required for an air conditioning and refrigeration licence application lodged with Service NSW. No insurance evidence is listed at renewal. NSW · effective 2026-08-13 Building Commission NSW · 2026-08-13
  • Licensing body: Building Commission NSW issues air conditioning and refrigeration licences, lodged through Service NSW. The work is specialist work defined in Schedule 4 of the Home Building Regulation 2014 and the licence covers the associated electrical wiring work. NSW · effective 2026-08-13 Building Commission NSW · 2026-08-13
  • Licensing body: The Building and Plumbing Commission registers and licenses refrigerated air-conditioning practitioners; it is a main class of plumbing work under the Plumbing Regulations 2018. Registration also requires a restricted electrical workers licence, issued separately by Energy Safe Victoria. VIC · effective 2026-08-13 Building and Plumbing Commission · 2026-08-17
  • Licence liability condition: The mechanical services air conditioning and refrigeration classes carry no insurance condition: none appears on the published list of classes requiring professional indemnity, and occupational licensees are expressly excluded from it. QLD · effective 2026-08-13 WorkSafe Queensland · 2026-08-13
  • Licence evidence required: No insurance evidence is required for the air conditioning and refrigeration classes. A contractor applicant demonstrates the minimum financial requirements with an MFR report or declaration lodged with the application. QLD · effective 2026-08-13 WorkSafe Queensland · 2026-08-13
  • Licensing body: The Queensland Building and Construction Commission licenses this work. The classes are mechanical services — air conditioning and refrigeration in unlimited design and limited design, plus an occupational class. QLD · effective 2026-08-13 WorkSafe Queensland · 2026-08-13
  • Licence liability condition: There is no standalone refrigeration and air conditioning trade licence in Western Australia; the state instrument is a restricted electrical licence, whose pages name no insurance requirement. A business contracting electrical work needs an electrical contractor's licence, which does carry a civil liability condition. WA · effective 2026-08-13 — recorded with low confidence; check the source before relying on it Consumer Protection WA · 2026-08-13
  • Licence evidence required: Applicants supply a trade certificate endorsed refrigeration and air conditioning, a Certificate III in the same field, an academic statement or completion letter, proof of identity and a police check dated within the past three months. No insurance evidence is sought. WA · effective 2026-08-13 Consumer Protection WA · 2026-08-13
  • Licensing body: The Electrical Licensing Board issues the restricted electrical licence for refrigeration and air conditioning, obtained on completing the relevant apprenticeship. Refrigerant handling itself is licensed federally, not by the state. WA · effective 2026-08-13 Consumer Protection WA · 2026-08-13
  • Licence liability condition: South Australia has no standalone refrigeration or air conditioning licence: the work is a category on the electrical contractor licence and worker registration, and no public liability condition is stated for those. Refrigerant handling is licensed federally. SA · effective 2026-08-13 — recorded with low confidence; check the source before relying on it Consumer and Business Services SA · 2026-08-13
  • Licence evidence required: Supporting documents, a photograph and an identity check are required at application for the electrical licence categories covering refrigeration and air conditioning. No evidence of insurance is listed at application or renewal. SA · effective 2026-08-13 — recorded with low confidence; check the source before relying on it Consumer and Business Services SA · 2026-08-13
  • Licensing body: Consumer and Business Services licenses refrigeration and air conditioning work as categories on the electrical contractor licence and electrical worker registration, under the Plumbers, Gas Fitters and Electricians Act 1995. SA · effective 2025-09-01 Consumer and Business Services SA · 2026-08-13
  • Licensing body: Tasmania licenses refrigerated air-conditioning work as Mechanical Services Plumbing, a plumbing work licence class under the Occupational Licensing Act 2005, defined as work on equipment and systems for heating and cooling a building. Refrigerant handling is licensed federally. TAS · effective 2018-05-08 Consumer, Building and Occupational Services Tasmania · 2026-08-13
  • Licence liability condition: Refrigeration and air conditioning is not a separate ACT occupation but a restricted class within the electrician occupation, and no insurance condition attaches to it. Eligibility is qualification-based under the qualifications declaration. ACT · effective 2026-08-13 ACT Construction Occupations Registrar · 2026-08-13
  • Licence evidence required: No insurance evidence is required at application. The general obligation applies: before providing a construction service the licensee must give the client evidence of what insurance is held. ACT · effective 2026-02-23 ACT Construction Occupations Registrar · 2026-08-13
  • Licensing body: The ACT Construction Occupations Registrar issues the licence. The class is a restricted electrotechnology systems refrigeration and air-conditioning licence, covering incidental electrical wiring for disconnection and reconnection work. ACT · effective 2026-08-13 ACT Construction Occupations Registrar · 2026-08-13
  • Licence liability condition: No insurance condition attaches to a restricted electrical work licence with the air conditioning and refrigeration endorsement. A business performing electrical work as part of its services needs a contractor licence, which requires $5,000,000 public and products liability. NT · effective 2026-08-13 NT Building Practitioners Board · 2026-08-13
  • Licence evidence required: No insurance evidence is required for the restricted electrical work licence. Where a contractor licence is needed, evidence of at least $5,000,000 of public and products liability insurance is lodged with the application. NT · effective 2026-08-13 NT Building Practitioners Board · 2026-08-13
  • Licensing body: The Electrical Safety Regulator within NT WorkSafe issues a restricted electrical work licence carrying an air conditioning and refrigeration equipment work endorsement, available only under an apprenticeship contract. NT · effective 2026-08-13 NT Building Practitioners Board · 2026-08-13

Tracked, not yet verified

These are the fields this page will carry. None of them has been checked against its source yet, so no value is shown and this page is deliberately kept out of the sitemap. The source to open is named on each row.

By state and territory

Licensing is a state matter, so the requirement behind this cover changes at the border. These pages track the licence question in each jurisdiction.

What contracts commonly ask for

Principals and head contractors set their own insurance requirements, and those are frequently higher than a licence condition. The requirement that binds is the higher of the two, and both have to be read from the actual document.

What this cover costs

This site publishes no cost benchmark for this cover. A benchmark needs a real sample of documents, and none is published until the sample is large enough to compute a median honestly. A benchmark from a handful of policies is a guess with a decimal point.

Sources