Individuals and the broader community alike are becoming more aware and concerned with safety overall and in recent times, Occupational Health and Safety laws and their enforcement have begun to reflect this. The presence of these regulations protecting employees against company negligence, means that the prosecution of the employer in cases of negligence is much more likely and penalties are harsher than they were in the past.

Test and Tagging to AS/NZS 3760 is the minimum requirement under Victorian OH&S legislation. Worksafe Victoria has advised the Victoria Trades Hall Council that they are now "actively enforcing the standard and inspecting all types of premises to confirm introduction of minimum safety testing programs consistent with AS/NZS 3760." This standard applies to all types of electrical appliance including leads and power boards in offices, factories, etc.

A program of preventive maintenance, with regular electrical safety checks incorporating testing and tagging of appliances to AS/NZS 3760, is the simplest and easiest way to avoid these unnecessary and unfortunate accidents, as well as the legal ramifications that can follow. Considering that almost all workplaces have appliances that fail first round testing when Test and Tagging is introduced, these can be deemed as a failure to comply with Occupational Health and Safety laws.

What is AS/NZS 3760?

This is a document written by a Standards Australia committee with members from a variety of industries related to electrical equipment and safety. The standard specifies the procedures and criteria for the in-service safety inspection and testing of electrical equipment which is designed for connection by a flexible cord. It also applies to extension cord sets, portable outlet devices (powerboards), portable residual current devices (safety switches) and portable isolation transformers.

How often do I have to get my equipment tested?

Retest frequency is dependent on the environment the appliance is used in and AS/NZS 3760 has clear guidelines for the retest frequency for different workplace environments.

Every work situation is different and there are often multiple environments in the one workplace. This means that some appliances may need to be retested in as little as 3 months if the surroundings are particularly harsh. However, if the surrounding environment is less detrimental to the appliance itself, retest dates may extend to a period of anywhere up to 5 years.

What does Testing and Tagging involve?

The process of testing appliance involves the following:

Visual Inspection: The first test is a visual inspection of the device, and the cords in particular.
Electrical Testing: The appliance will be connected to a Portable Appliance Tester which will scan the internal circuitry, running a sequence of tests to identify any unseen electrical faults. These tests incudes, amongst others, a Bond test and Earth Leakage test.
Tags: A safety tag is placed on the appliance verifying its safe approval. For businesses not operating on construction sites, there are non-tag alternatives.

What equipment needs to be tested?

Any appliance within a business that has a flexible cord that plugs into either a single phase 240V power outlet or 3 phase 415V power outlet needs to be tested regularly to ensure that the appliance is electrically safe to use within the workplace. Appliances that run on batteries are not tested but their associated battery chargers are.

Will Testing and Tagging totally eliminate electrical accidents?

The testing regime described in AS/NZS 3760 is designed to identify all dangerous electrical faults without dismantling the appliance. This comes as close as possible to eliminating the risk of accidents at minimal cost and inconvenience.

This is another cost to the business. How will the business benefit from it?

Apart from ensuring you are complying with the OH&S legislation, Electrical Safety Testing acts much like insurance, protecting you from the costs of litigation and prosecution in the event of an electrical accident. Unlike regular insurance, it also greatly reduces the likelihood of the “insured” event occurring. Imagine car insurance that actually prevents accidents!
Considering that faulty electrical equipment is the cause of many fires, having these identified and either repaired or replaced can prevent your business going up in smoke.
Our standard report can also act as an asset list if you don't have one. If you do, we can use your existing Asset IDs for our report.

The tags get in the way in our environment.

While the tags provide easy assurance that the appliance it is attached to is safe, we understand that there are some environments where the tags can get in the way. Tagging is mandatory only for the construction industry; for other workplaces there are non-tag alternatives that will still enable you to comply with the OH&S legislation.

We already have an electrician that looks after our electrical equipment.

The skills of Testing and Tagging are not covered by the four‑year apprenticeship that a person undergoes before they can become an electrician. Furthermore, a standard electrician's toolkit does not include the equipment needed to carry out Electrical Safety Testing on appliances. If your electrician does not place safety tags on your appliances or provide you with a log of the test results, they are not carrying out safety tests on your appliances.

Our power tools and appliances have worked fine for years. How can anything be wrong with them?

Appliances can still function when they are unsafe. This is what makes them unsafe. An appliance that is not working properly and is disposed of or repaired poses far less danger than one that is working but with an undetected fault.

We are an office/retail outlet. We don't have the dangers of a factory or construction site.

While factories and construction sites have additional dangers with moving equipment and vehicles, offices and retail outlets have many of the same dangers from faulty electrical equipment. Accidents arising from using faulty electrical appliances are almost as high in offices and retail outlets as they are in factories.

We have a Safety Switch installed. Aren't we protected?

Safety Switches, also known as Residual Current Devices (RCD), protect against many of the most common electrical faults but not all. While it is recommended that all homes and workplaces be fitted with RCDs, the use of an RCD however, is no excuse for complacency when it comes to the regular inspection and testing of your electrical appliances.

Does our Safety Switch (RCD) need regular testing?

Like all electrical equipment, RCDs can also become faulty which is why their regular inspection and testing is included in AS/NZS 3760. They need to be able to respond to faults within milliseconds to adequately protect against electric shock hazards.

Does Test and Tagging need to be done for homes?

Residential homes generally fall outside the scope of OH&S but there are legal requirements for the home owner or occupier to minimise hazards for visitors. In addition, with the growth of teleworkers and others that work from home, the employer is responsible for a safe work environment for employees working from home. Test and Tagging can be done on appliances in the home and home office to give peace of mind that you and your family are safe from electrical hazards and the possibility of fire caused by a faulty electrical appliance. It also provides a convenient way of obtaining a list of all those appliance serial numbers that are never recorded in the excitement of a new purchase. Our standard report has the serial numbers of all appliances with them in one handy report.

Do you repair faulty appliances

Generally we do not repair faulty appliances as most modern appliances require specialised knowledge privy to the manufacturer and its agents although we may replace a damaged plug or cord.

It is usually best to contact the manufacturer or one of their agents for repair.

Do we need to do anything to prepare for Q-Safe Electrical Testing and Tagging to test and tag?

We suggest that you direct your staff to have a quick look at our website, www.q-safe.com.au so they have an understanding of the testing process.

Staff should be made aware that they will need to shut down their computers (excluding laptops) and other mains-powered equipment for about 5 minutes each whilst the technician inspects and tests them. You also need to ensure that the technician will have easy access to all items which need to be tested. If furniture or equipment needs to be moved, please have someone available to do this.

If the equipment is used in a dirty environment, ensure it is reasonably clean as grease and dirt will hamper the visual inspection. Regular cleaning of equipment will also help keep them serviceable for longer and should be part of your regular maintenance.

Old equipment that is to be disposed of or used for recycling should be placed in a quarantine area so it is not available for testing or inadvertently put into service.