Getting Started for Sole Traders : Rail Industry Worker Knowledge Centre

How can I become a sole trader in the RIW System?

What is a sole trader?

A sole trader is an individual running a business. If a person operates their business as a sole trader, they are the only owner and they control and manage the business. They are legally responsible for all aspects of the business. They have a registered Australian Business Number (ABN) as a sole trader.

The difference between the RIW System and the myRIW portal

The RIW System is the main system used by Employer Administrators to manage a workforce. The RIW System is used to send employment requests, manage cardholder profiles including uploading competencies and job roles and ordering RIW cards. You can access the RIW System at https://app.riw.net.au/

myRIW is the main system used by Rail Industry Workers (cardholders) to view their profile and information held within the RIW System. Cardholders can view their employers, associations, job roles, competencies and medical results. myRIW also allows a cardholder to accept or reject employment requests that have been received from companies. You can access myRIW at https://app.riw.net.au/MySkillGuard/Account/LogOn

Prior to accessing either system, it might be worthwhile watching the following short videos to provide a sole trader with familiarity of working in the different systems:

How can I become a sole trader in the RIW System?

To become a sole trader in the RIW System there are four significant processes that a sole trader will need to complete.

Register their company in the RIW System using their Australian Business Number (ABN).
Once registered, log into the RIW System and send an employment request to the cardholder (if they have an existing profile), or create a new RIW profile in the RIW System.
Log in to the myRIW portal as a cardholder and accept the employment request.
In the RIW System, manage the cardholder profile to pay for the annual subscription, order an RIW card, upload competencies, job roles and rail health assessments.

For a more detailed step-by-step process, please refer below.

Step by Step process

There are steps that need to be competed in both systems prior to being able to access an RIW profile as a sole trader. The relevant steps that need to be completed in the different systems will be shown with the relevant logos.

Step 1		Register the company with the RIW Program using the sole trader ABN at https://app.riw.net.au/SkillSafe/CompanyRegistration. Refer to the our article How do I register a company in the RIW System? for detailed instructions.
Step 2		Once the company has been approved and a username has been issued, log into the RIW System at https://app.riw.net.au/ to: Send an employment request to the cardholder if they have an existing RIW profile, or Create a RIW profile if you are new to the RIW Program For both options, please follow instructions in our article How does a company add a new cardholder to the RIW System? Alternatively, watch the video on adding a cardholder to the RIW System.
Step 3		Once the employment request has been sent from the RIW System, create a myRIW profile and accept the employment request. Refer to the article How does a cardholder create a myRIW profile? about how to register in myRIW. Once logged in, accept the employment request that has been sent from the sole trader company. Refer to the article How does a cardholder accept an employment or association request? for further instructions.
Step 4		After the employment request has been accepted, log back in to the RIW System to manage the cardholder profile. Please refer to the following materials to assist with navigating the system: Ordering a card - How does a company order a physical or virtual RIW card? Adding job roles - How does a company add a new job role to a cardholders profile? and video on Assigning Job Roles. Uploading competencies - How does a company add a new competency to a cardholders profile? and video on assigning competencies. Uploading medical assessment – can be done at https://www.riw.net.au/contact-us/request-a-service/ by selecting category and sub-category mentioned in the below screenshot: