If you use any electrical equipment in your business, you will need to perform test and tag at regularly defined intervals.  This is not something that you can do yourself so you’ll need to hire a service that can do it for you.  Here is what you need to know to ensure that you get the right test and tag service for your business so that you are fulfilling your legal and moral requirements. For more information about choosing a test and tag service, talk to your local electrician.

What is Test and Tag?

Testing and tagging is the process of inspecting electrical appliances and devices visually and with special instruments to ensure that they are safe to use.  Once the inspection has been completed, the appliance or device is tagged with the appropriate label.  Test and tag is a necessity for workplaces to ensure that staff and customers alike are safe and the risk of electrical shock or hazards is minimised.

What Needs to be Tested and Tagged?

Any appliance that has a flexible power cord that plugs into either standard single phase 240 volt power outlet or a three phase 415 volt power outlet needs to be regularly tested. This could be anything used in your workplace from a computer through to a toaster, fridge, power tools, vacuum cleaner and so on.  If you are in doubt about whether it needs to be tested, it is best to ask the qualified test and tag service as they will give you a definitive answer.

What to Look for in a Test and Tag Service

If it’s time to have your electrical equipment tested and tagged, you’ll be looking for a service that can do it for you.  The main thing that you need to look for in this service is that they use qualified technicians or electricians and that they always work to AS/NZ 3760 (a document that specifies the standards for inspecting and testing electrical equipment that has a power cord of some kind).  The AS/NZ 3760 standard not only states how testing should be done but also how often it needs to be done.

Your test and tag service should start by visually inspecting your electrical device making sure there are no obvious faults such as frayed cords or loose plugs.  They should then use specialised testing equipment to test for “invisible faults” such as earth faults.  Once the tests are done, the results should be well recorded and a copy given to you as the manager or owner of the business.  The appliance or device is then tagged with the name of the testing company and either the date it was tested or when it needs to be re-tested.

The test and tag service should be flexible enough to work around your needs as a business, whether that means coming at a suitable time during working hours or organising to visit outside of standard business hours in order to minimise disruptions.