Test and Tag in Australia: What the Law Actually Requires (and the Myth Worth Busting)
- OHS News
- 2 days ago
- 6 min read
Most businesses have electrical equipment that hasn't been seriously thought about since the day it was plugged in. Extension leads under desks. Power tools in the tradie's ute. A kettle in the break room. A laptop charger that's spent three years being trodden on.
All of it running on electricity. All of it capable of causing a serious incident if something is wrong.
Electrical safety is one of those WHS topics where the risk is real, the obligations are clear, and the confusion about what those obligations actually are runs deep. Here's the plain-English version.
Why electrical hazards matter in the workplace
Electricity is one of the few workplace hazards that can kill without warning. You can't see a fault inside a cable. You can't hear a degraded insulation layer. By the time something goes wrong, it can go wrong fast.
Safe Work Australia and the Electrical Regulatory Authorities Council both track electrical fatalities and serious injuries in Australian workplaces. Electrocution is a significant cause of workplace deaths, particularly in construction and electrical trades, but electrical risk exists across every industry. Office workers use electrical equipment. Retail workers use it. Anyone with a power point has electrical risk to manage.
Your legal obligation as a PCBU
Under the Model WHS Act, every person conducting a business or undertaking (PCBU) has a duty to provide and maintain safe plant and equipment, so far as is reasonably practicable. Electrical equipment is plant. The duty applies to every business.
The WHS Regulations (and equivalent state legislation, including Victoria's OHS Regulations) add specific requirements, including RCD protection for plug-in electrical equipment used in hostile operating environments. In practice: know what electrical equipment is in your workplace, assess the risks, manage them, and keep records.
What is test and tag, and what does it actually involve?
Test and tag is the process of visually inspecting and electrically testing portable electrical equipment to find faults before they cause harm. Equipment that passes gets a tag showing the test date, next due date, and who did the testing.
It has two parts. Visual inspection covers obvious damage, frayed cords, cracked plugs, burn marks, missing earth pins. This can be done as part of a regular check without specialist equipment. Electrical testing uses a portable appliance tester (PAT tester) to check earth continuity, insulation resistance, and polarity, and needs a competent person with the right equipment.
The myth worth busting: “Every business must test and tag every 12 months by law”
This is the one that needs clearing up.
There is no single universal legal requirement in Australia that every workplace must test and tag all electrical equipment every 12 months. That figure gets repeated constantly, sometimes by well-meaning people, sometimes by testing service providers. It's not accurate as a blanket rule.
The governing standard is AS/NZS 3760, which covers in-service inspection and testing of electrical equipment. It sets recommended intervals based on the type of environment, not a fixed 12-month rule for all workplaces.
Here's how the standard's intervals actually work:
Non-hostile environments (offices, low-risk commercial spaces): Testing intervals can range from 12 months up to 5 years for equipment that doesn't move around, isn't exposed to harsh conditions, and is subject to a documented risk assessment.
Hostile environments (areas exposed to moisture, heat, dust, vibration, or chemical exposure): Shorter intervals apply. A hostile environment that also involves portable equipment in regular use would typically require 12-monthly or more frequent testing.
Factories and workshops: 6-monthly testing is the general recommendation.
Construction and demolition sites: This is where the obligation becomes mandatory and the interval is fixed. AS/NZS 3012 covers electrical installations on construction and demolition sites and requires all portable electrical equipment to be tested and tagged every 3 months.
No risk assessment extends this. If your workers are on construction or demolition sites, 3-monthly testing is a firm requirement.
The key distinction: for most lower-risk businesses, test and tag is the recognised way to meet your duty to maintain safe plant, with the interval informed by a risk assessment. For construction and demolition, the interval is set.
Three real scenarios
A construction subcontractor (3 workers, residential building sites)
All portable tools, angle grinders, drills, extension leads, portable RCDs, need to be tested and tagged every 3 months under AS/NZS 3012. This isn't optional and it isn't negotiable. The testing needs to be done by a competent person, and a test and tag register needs to be kept. On most residential sites the principal contractor will want to see current tags on equipment.
A small office-based professional services business (8 workers)
Office equipment, computers, monitors, laptop chargers, the kitchen kettle, is in a non-hostile environment. A risk assessment under AS/NZS 3760 can support a longer testing interval: 2 years or more for fixed equipment, 12 months for items that get moved around. Regular visual checks are still sensible, and RCD protection on socket outlets is recommended (and is standard under the wiring rules for newer installations).
A cafe (5 workers)
Commercial kitchens involve heat, moisture, chemicals, and equipment that moves constantly. 12-monthly testing is the typical approach here, with more frequent checks for high-use items. A documented electrical safety procedure and test and tag register are practical necessities, not optional extras.
Who can do the testing?
Under AS/NZS 3760, testing must be performed by a “competent person”, someone with the knowledge and skills to do the work, acquired through training, qualification or experience.
For visual inspections and standard portable appliance testing (PAT testing), a licensed electrician is not always required. A person who has completed recognised test and tag training and holds a statement of attainment can perform this work in most circumstances.
For anything more complex, dismantling equipment or working on fixed electrical installations, a licensed electrician is required.
The practical takeaway: for routine test and tag, you need someone properly trained and competent. That's not always an electrician.
RCDs (safety switches): a critical layer
Regardless of your testing program, RCDs are a separate and critical layer of electrical safety. A residual current device detects a fault current to earth and cuts power in milliseconds.
Under the WHS Regulations (and equivalent state legislation, including Victoria's OHS Regulations), a PCBU must provide RCD protection, so far as is reasonably practicable, for plug-in electrical equipment used in hostile operating environments: areas with moisture, heat, vibration, dust or mechanical damage, or where equipment is moved during use. Many other workplaces also have RCDs on their socket outlets under the wiring rules (AS/NZS 3000). RCD requirements vary by state, so check what applies in your jurisdiction. Where an RCD is required, it's a legal duty, not a recommendation.
RCDs also need to be tested regularly by a competent person. AS/NZS 3760 sets testing intervals by environment, with shorter intervals for higher-risk settings: typically 3-monthly for construction, demolition and mining sites, and 6-monthly for factories and workshops. Push-button checks are done more often than the formal operating-time test, and fixed RCDs run on longer cycles than portable ones. A safety switch that has never been tested is only theoretically protecting your workers.
What records should you keep?
A test and tag program is only as useful as the records that support it. At a minimum, keep:
A test and tag register: each item tested, test date, result, next due date, and who did the testing
RCD test records
Records of any visual inspections and any defects found, plus what action was taken
These records demonstrate that you've met your duty, which matters if a regulator visits or an incident occurs. They also give you a practical tracking system so nothing slips through.
How this connects to your WHS Manual
Electrical safety needs to be documented in your safety system, not managed by memory and habit. A documented procedure sets out how your business identifies electrical equipment, how testing is scheduled and recorded, what workers should check for, and what to do when something fails.
All of our WHS Manuals and WHS Management Systems include a procedure for Electrical Safety and/or Test and Tag, along with a Test and Tag Register. Together they give you a documented approach that's ready to use.
Free resource: Toolbox Talk on Electrical Safety
We've put together a Toolbox Talk on Electrical Safety that covers the main electrical hazards your workers need to be aware of, what a visual inspection involves, what to do if equipment looks damaged, and when to stop and report.
It's free, plain English, and ready to run with your team in 5-10 minutes.
About Everything OHS
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