Damaged electrical equipment is a recognised cause of workplace fires and electric shock. Test and tag is the process of visually inspecting, electrically testing and labelling portable appliances to confirm they are safe to use. In Australia the duty comes from the WHS Act, which requires a PCBU to keep electrical equipment safe, and AS/NZS 3760 is the standard regulators point to for how to do that. Doing it properly satisfies the duty and gives you documented proof of compliance when a regulator or insurer asks.
This guide is for electricians, safety officers, facilities managers and site supervisors who need a repeatable procedure for testing and tagging portable electrical equipment on construction sites, in warehouses or across office portfolios.
Before you start
Gather your portable appliance tester (PAT), durable test tags, a test and tag checklist and a pen. Confirm the PAT's own calibration is current, because an out-of-calibration tester makes every result it produces indefensible. Know which appliance class you are testing before you start: Class I equipment has a metal chassis connected to earth (kettles, angle grinders), while Class II relies on double insulation and carries the square-within-a-square symbol (phone chargers, plastic-bodied drills).
Step-by-step test and tag
1. Visually inspect the appliance
Before connecting the tester, check the appliance for damage, cracks, burns, staining, moisture ingress or missing covers. Confirm the rating label is legible, guards and ventilation openings are in place, and the appliance suits its operating environment. The visual inspection catches most faults, so if it fails here, do not proceed to electrical testing.
2. Visually inspect the cord and plug
Run your hands along the full length of the cord looking for cuts, abrasion, kinks, joins or exposed conductors. Inspect the plug for cracks, bent pins, burn marks or loose connections. Confirm the cord grip is secure at both ends and reject any cord with taped repairs or unapproved joins.
3. Connect the portable appliance tester
Switch the appliance off. Plug it into the PAT tester and, for Class I equipment, connect the earth lead clip to an exposed metal part. Select the correct test sequence for the appliance class.
4. Run the electrical tests
For Class I, run earth continuity first, then insulation resistance. For Class II (double-insulated), skip earth continuity and run insulation resistance only. Where the tester supports it, also run a leakage current test under load. Record every reading rather than just a pass/fail, so a slow drift towards the limit is visible over successive tests.
5. Apply the test tag
If the appliance passes, attach a durable pass tag showing the test date, next test due date and the tester's name. If it fails, apply a fail tag or a danger tag and remove it from service immediately. On construction sites, tags are commonly colour-coded by quarter so an out-of-date tag is obvious at a glance. No colour scheme is mandated nationally, so follow the one your site specifies: the quarterly colour cycle is set out in our reference.
6. Record the result in the register
Enter the result into your register: appliance description, asset ID, serial number, location, test date, tester name, individual readings, pass or fail status and next test due date. Retain records for the life of the appliance.
Test types
The table below summarises the core tests and their pass criteria under AS/NZS 3760.
| Test | What it measures | Pass criterion | Applies to |
|---|---|---|---|
| Earth continuity | Resistance of the earth path from plug pin to exposed metal | Less than 1 ohm (a small allowance applies to long leads) | Class I only |
| Insulation resistance | Integrity of insulation between live conductors and earth | At least 1 megohm at 500 V DC | Class I and Class II |
| Leakage current | Current leaking from live parts under normal load | Within the AS/NZS 3760 limit (Class II not exceeding 1 mA) | Class I and Class II |
| Polarity | Correct wiring of active, neutral and earth conductors | Correct orientation confirmed | Leads, power boards, rewirable plugs |
Portable residual current devices (RCDs) are handled separately: AS/NZS 3760 covers both the push-button operation check and a trip-time test, and RCDs protecting portable equipment on site should be tested more often than the appliances plugged into them.
Testing intervals
The environment sets the interval: the harder the equipment is used, the shorter the window. The intervals below are the ones Australian regulators publish, drawn from AS/NZS 3760:2022, AS/NZS 3012 for construction sites and Queensland's Electrical Safety Regulation 2013. Our test and tag reference is the canonical version of this table and names the regulator behind every row, including amusement devices and the state-by-state detail.
| Environment | Interval |
|---|---|
| Construction and demolition sites | Every 3 months (AS/NZS 3012) |
| Factories, workshops, manufacturing and fabrication | Every 6 months. Queensland allows 12 months for double-insulated equipment |
| Hostile environments (moisture, heat, dust, vibration, corrosives), and cords flexed in normal use | Every 12 months |
| Offices and other low-risk settings where cords are not flexed, abused or exposed | Every 5 years. The Northern Territory mandates no testing at all in this class |
| Residential-type areas: hotels, motels, boarding houses, hostels | Every 2 years |
| Commercial cleaning equipment | Every 6 months |
| Hire equipment | Inspect before each hire, then test and tag every 3 months |
| Repaired, serviced or second-hand equipment | After any repair or service that could affect safety, and second-hand equipment before first use |
Sources, all checked 22 August 2026: SafeWork SA: inspection and testing of electrical equipment · WorkSafe Queensland: testing and tagging · NT WorkSafe: test and tag bulletin · SafeWork NSW: electrical practices on construction and demolition sites · Safe Work Australia: managing electrical risks code of practice
Construction and demolition sites sit at the strict end because equipment is constantly moved, flexed and exposed. A documented risk assessment can always shorten an interval. Stretching one is much harder to defend, and in Queensland and the Northern Territory the intervals are written into regulation rather than left to the standard.
Regulatory requirements
In Australia and New Zealand, AS/NZS 3760 is the primary standard for in-service safety inspection and testing of electrical equipment. It defines who can test, which tests to perform, the pass criteria and the recommended intervals. In most places it is guidance rather than legislation, but two jurisdictions have written intervals into law: Queensland prescribes maximum test intervals in its Electrical Safety Regulation 2013, and the Northern Territory moved its testing and tagging provisions into the Electrical Safety Regulations 2024 on 1 July 2024. Victoria sits outside the model WHS scheme, under the Occupational Health and Safety Act 2004, and WorkSafe Victoria points to AS/NZS 3760:2022 for recommended timeframes all the same. New Zealand does not mandate test and tag at all: WorkSafe NZ treats AS/NZS 3760 as one accepted way to show equipment is electrically safe.
Under the WHS Act, a PCBU must ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable, that electrical equipment at the workplace is safe. Non-compliance can bring improvement notices, prohibition notices and prosecution. The tester must be a competent person: someone with the knowledge and skills to inspect and test electrical equipment, gained through training, qualification or experience. A licensed electrician qualifies, but a licence is not required for testing in most jurisdictions, and the common route for non-electricians is a nationally accredited portable appliance testing course through an RTO. Repairs are different. In Queensland it is an offence to repair electrical equipment without an electrical work licence, and in New Zealand only a registered electrical worker can fix a fault. Individual sites and contracts can demand more than the legal minimum, so confirm your local requirement before assigning the task. For operators working under overseas rules, the nearest equivalents are the UK Electricity at Work Regulations and, in the US, the general electrical safety duties under OSHA, neither of which mirrors the AS/NZS 3760 interval regime.
Sources, all checked 22 August 2026: SafeWork NSW: electrical inspection and testing · WorkSafe Queensland: testing and tagging · NT WorkSafe: test and tag bulletin · WorkSafe Victoria: electrical safety · WorkSafe WA: guide to testing and tagging · WorkSafe NZ: testing and tagging electrical appliances
This guide is general information, not legal advice. For the full jurisdiction-by-jurisdiction picture, including who can test in each state, record-keeping obligations and the New Zealand position, see our test and tag reference, and confirm the detail with your state regulator.
