When the ticket isn’t real: what Victoria’s fake-certificate investigation means for HSE hiring
On 13 October, WorkSafe Victoria announced it is investigating possible health and safety breaches connected to fraudulent qualification certificates, identified through intelligence shared by Victoria Police and other national and state agencies. Several individuals allegedly sought fake certificates covering skills such as first aid, implementing traffic management plans and working safely at heights.
It would be easy to file this under crime news. It isn’t. It is a sharp reminder that every safety-critical system in your business rests on an assumption most organisations rarely test: that the people doing the work are genuinely competent to do it.
What WorkSafe Victoria announced
WorkSafe’s Chief Health and Safety Officer, Sam Jenkin, said the regulator “will take compliance or enforcement action against anyone” who puts others at risk by working in an area for which they obtained false qualifications. Fake certificates cannot be used to obtain WorkSafe-issued licences, and any high-risk work licence holders linked to the alleged fraud will be audited.
Notably, Jenkin acknowledged WorkSafe’s legal options against the fraud itself are limited — which is precisely why the practical burden lands on employers. WorkSafe has issued a safety alert asking employers to confirm that workers hold suitable training and competency, including verifying qualifications directly with the issuing Registered Training Organisation (RTO). The regulator also pointed to section 25 of Victoria’s Occupational Health and Safety Act 2004: employees must take reasonable care for their own safety and that of others affected by their actions — a duty a worker operating on a fake ticket is unlikely to be meeting.
Why a fake ticket is a systemic failure, not a paperwork problem
Safety management systems are built on verified competency. Permit-to-work systems assume the permit holder can do what the permit authorises. SWMS sign-offs assume the signatories understood what they signed. First aid coverage calculations assume the nominated first aiders can actually deliver first aid. Traffic management plans assume the person implementing them was trained to do so. Remove genuine competency from any of those links and the control exists on paper only — while the paperwork tells you everything is fine.
The risk also travels down the contracting chain. Host employers rely on labour hire providers’ screening; principal contractors rely on subcontractors’ training registers. Every link that merely sights a certificate — rather than verifying it — passes unexamined risk to the next. And for officers exercising due diligence, “we sighted the certificate” may prove an uncomfortable answer if the certificate itself turns out to be the failure point.
The verification gap in hiring
In most organisations, qualification checking at the point of hire stops at collecting a PDF. Closing the gap does not require new technology — just discipline:
• Verify at the source. Confirm the credential with the issuing RTO, or ask the candidate for their USI transcript, which records nationally recognised training.
• Check the issuer. Confirm the RTO is registered, and that the qualification sits within its scope, on the national register at training.gov.au.
• Check licences with the regulator. High-risk work licences can be verified through the issuing state regulator — do not rely on the plastic card.
• Check currency. Many tickets have refresh cycles or currency expectations — first aid being the obvious example. A genuine certificate from 2015 is not evidence of current capability.
• Verify competency, not just credentials. Structured referee checks on the actual scope of work performed, and verification of competency (VOC) assessments for plant and safety-critical tasks, test what a certificate cannot.
Five practical takeaways for HSE leaders
1. Map your safety-critical roles and tickets. Know which roles rely on which qualifications, and which of those have never been verified at the source.
2. Audit a sample now. WorkSafe’s alert is a prompt: pick your highest-consequence tasks and verify the tickets behind them this quarter.
3. Build verification into onboarding and contractor mobilisation. Make source verification a gate, not a post-start tidy-up — and apply it to labour hire and subcontractors, not just direct hires.
4. Fix the register, not just the file. Record how each qualification was verified and when it expires, so currency checks run themselves.
5. Treat competency as observed, not assumed. Pair tickets with VOC assessments and supervision until competency is demonstrated in your environment, on your plant, under your procedures.
The recruiter’s view
After 20 years recruiting health and safety professionals, our view is simple: a certificate is the start of the conversation, not the end of it. The strongest predictor of safe performance is demonstrated competency — what a candidate has actually led, implemented and been accountable for — tested through structured interviewing and rigorous referencing. The cost of a safety-critical hire that looks right on paper but cannot do the work is never just the salary.
If you want a second set of eyes on how you verify safety-critical competency when you hire — or you need proven HSE or workers compensation leadership you can trust — talk to a Zenergy consultant: zenergygroup.com.au/contact.
Sources
• WorkSafe Victoria, “WorkSafe investigates fake certificate risks”, 13 October 2026 — worksafe.vic.gov.au/news
• WorkSafe Victoria safety alert on verifying training and competency, October 2026
• OHS Alert, “Fraud arrest triggers workplace safety warning”, 16 October 2026 (subscription)
• Occupational Health and Safety Act 2004 (Vic), s 25
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