TestIng & Tagging Intervals for Electrical Equipment

Interval between inspection and tests

Type of environment and/or equipment

1. Factories, workshops, places of work or repair, manufacturing, assembly, maintenance or fabrication
Equipment including Class I equipment, Class II equipment, cord sets, cord extension sets and EPODs : 6 months

Residual current devices (RCDs)

Push-button test – by user
- Portable: Daily, or before every use, whichever is the longer
- Fixed: 6 months
Operating time and push-button test
- Portable: 12 months
- Fixed: 6 months
2. Environment where the equipment or supply flexible cord is subject to flexing in normal use OR is open to abuse OR is in a hostile environment

Equipment including Class I equipment, Class II equipment, cord sets, cord extension sets and EPODs : 12 months

Residual current devices (RCDs)

Push-button test – by user
Portable: 3 months
Fixed: 6 months

Operating time and push-button test
Portable: 12 months
Fixed: 12 months
3. Environment where the equipment or supply cord is NOT subject to flexing in normal use and is NOT open to abuse and is NOT in a hostile environment

Equipment including Class I equipment, Class II equipment, cord sets, cord extension sets and EPODs : 5 years

Residual current devices (RCDs)

Push-button test – by user
Portable: 3 months
Fixed: 6 months

Operating time and push-button test
Portable: 2 years
Fixed: 5 years
4. Residential type areas of: hotels, residential institutions, motels, Airbnb, boarding houses, halls, hostels accommodation houses, and the like

Equipment including Class I equipment, Class II equipment, cord sets, cord extension sets and EPODs : 2 years

Residual current devices (RCDs)

Push-button test – by user
Portable: 6 months
Fixed: 6 months

Operating time and push-button test
Portable: 2 years
Fixed: 2 years
5. Equipment used for commercial cleaning

Equipment including Class I equipment, Class II equipment, cord sets, cord extension sets and EPODs : 6 months

Residual current devices (RCDs)

Push-button test – by user
Portable: Daily, or before every use, whichever is the longer
Fixed: N/A

Operating time and push-button test
Portable: 12 months
Fixed: N/A
6. Hire equipment: Inspection Test and tag

Equipment including Class I equipment, Class II equipment, cord sets, cord extension sets and EPODs : Prior to hire - 3 months

Residual current devices (RCDs)

Push-button test – by user
Including push-button test by hirer prior to hire

Operating time and push-button test
Portable: 3 months
Fixed: 12 months
7. Repaired, serviced and second-hand equipment

After repair or service which could affect electrical safety, or on reintroduction to service, refer to AS/NZS 5762

Here are the main intervals you should be aware of:

Intervals	Environment
3 months	construction, building and demolition
6 months	factories, production and warehouse
12 months	where equipment/cord is prone to flexing (or open to abuse) i.e. schools, offices, office kitchen
5 yearly	where equipment/cord is not prone to flexing (or open to abuse) i.e. server rooms

Inspection, testing and tagging intervals for construction and demolition sites

Every three months we visit your construction site. We always bring our PPE and white card (general construction induction card), and do a site induction if required.

For safety reasons, we try to do all the testing and tagging near the toolboxes and ask the tradies to bring their tools to us. This way, we limit the time wandering around on the construction site (except to check the temporary switchboards’ RCD switches).

Some construction sites demand to test and tag on a monthly basis.

For construction sites, the retest is due before or on the due date, so no tolerance as with the regular (non-construction nor demolition) test and tagging.