Most tradies will need to test & tag their equipment every 3 months.

When understanding the test and tag intervals and how often an electrical appliance should be tested, the main underlying factor is the type of environment that appliance is located in.

Just as important, the AS/NZS 3760 standard (Table 4) should be seen as a minimum requirement. A lot of workplaces will have different test and tag frequencies because of their own risk management and OHS planning. Likewise, some of these industries might require you to use certain Test and Tag Colours.

For the most common environments, we recommend the following frequencies:

  • 3 months – building, construction and demolition
  • 6 months – factories, warehouses and production
  • 12 months – an environment where the equipment/supply cord is prone to flexing or open to abuse
  • 5 yearly – an environment where the equipment/supply cord is not prone to flexing or open to abuse

Table 4: AS/NZS 3760 – Test and Tag Intervals

The intervals listed below are only a recommendation and should be taken into account as a minimum requirement when PAT testing. If you have been given the job to test and tag a workplace and then discover that the previous person responsible for this task was testing items at a different frequency than recommended, it could be because:

1) The person testing and tagging was ill-informed about the test periods and is doing it incorrectly

2) The workplace business owner has completed their own risk assessment

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