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.

RCD’s

Pushbutton test

Portable: After connection to a socket or before connecting equipment and at least once every day of use

Non-portable / fixed: Every month

Operating time

Portable: Every 3 months

Non-portable / fixed: Every 12 months

Tom of iTAGPRO

Achieve an Electrically Safe Workplace