Appliance Test and Tag Melbourne
The team at NKM First Aid + Test & Tag are on the front line of defence in supporting your businesses with your health and safety requirements. We provide a variety of services including first aid training, defibrillator servicing & training, first aid kit supply, test & tag, fire extinguisher inspections & installations and exit & emergency sign testing.
As an employer, whether you run a construction site, factory, office or shop, safety for your employees and others on your site should be your priority.
Under the Australian Standard Guidelines AS:NZS 3760:2022 testing and tagging is recommended to be performed on all appliances used in workplaces. This is not only to ensure safety of the workforce but also people in volunteer organisations, community rooms, public areas etc.
At NKM we are trained and qualified to test and tag your appliances. This involves two parts
- Visual inspection of the appliance for damage
- Electrical testing of the appliance with a portable appliance tester (pat tester).
NKM First Aid + Test & Tag can assist you to reduces the risk of electrical hazard in your workplace by routine inspection and testing.
In industries such as construction and mining, testing and tagging must be carried out every three months.
In industries such as hiring firms and hospitality there are also specific requirements.
Regardless of industry or business the Australian Standards for electrical test and tagging vary from three months to five years depending on the environment it is used in.
Once tested all appliances must be fitted with a tag which identifies the person conducting the test and provides the date, test result and required date for retesting. It is also required that you have a history of all the testing and tagging to include a list of all faulty items and the actions taken.
All devices that have a flexible cable, removable plugs are recommended to be tested. This includes extension leads, cord sets, portable RCD’s. These appliances are referred to as.
Class I – Earthed appliance, Eg: Computers, Monitors, Toaster, Kettles, Refrigerators
Class II – Double insulated appliance, Eg: Saws, Drills and other tools, hair dryers etc.
At NKM we initially visually inspect your equipment to ensure it is safe. We know how important this is because it is well known that the majority of defects or faults are usually found during a visual inspection. We then use a portable appliance (PAT) tester and this allows us to test the appliance in question to ensure that it is safe. The equipment tested is then tagged using a colour coded tag and supplying the name of the person doing the testing, the date the testing is carried out, the required date for retesting and result of the test.
NKM also provides an up to date record of the testing and tagging carried out together with a list of any faulty items.
Below is a table providing the required list of the colours of the tags and the periods the test and tags for the appliance was completed.
RED DEC – FEB
GREEN MAR – MAY
BLUE JUN – AUG
YELLOW SEP – NOV
For everyone else not working in those particular industries, it is not legislatively required to use any special tag colour for the different months.
It really comes down to your own personal choice as to which electrical tagging colours you choose to use.
We recommend that you designate different test tag colours for the various re-test periods then rotate the colours with each test.
As a result, when it comes time for re-testing, you’ll know immediately which appliances need to be tested.
The most common tag colours people tend to use are red, green, blue, yellow, orange, white, black and burgundy.