All testing and tagging is carried out in accordance with the AS/NZS 3760:2010 entitled “In-service safety inspection and testing of electrical equipment”.  This standard defines the types of tests required for the various classes of electrical equipment as well as the electrical values required for each test that constitute a pass or fail.
Testing will be carried out on all electrical equipment that have a flexible power lead and plug.  This includes normal 240V electrical appliances and 415V three phase equipment.  Hard wired electrical equipment and equipment above 2.5m from the floor is normally excluded.  Appliances above 2.5m may be tested, however, but time and equipment charges may apply.

• Mobile testing and tagging—we come to you—all of our equipment is portable and battery operated.  Having said that, some appliances are better tested when they are powered up in which case we require the use of a local power point.
• Locate Appliances-In most cases we will go through the work area and locate all the appliances that need tagging.  When appliances are not readily accessible the client may choose get these out for us.  The client will also identify which appliances, if any, are no longer in use and therefore not required to be tested.
• Testing/Tagging/Labelling/Barcoding Sequence

Step 1 Testing: 

• The appliance is powered off and unplugged.
• A visual inspection is carried out.
• A portable appliance tester (PAT) checks that the safety earth conductor is continuous for Class 1 equipment.
• The insulation resistance is measured for mechanically switched equipment
  OR
• a powered leakage current test is carried out for electrically switched equipment.
• A polarity check is performed for extension leads, powerboards (EPODs) and IEC leads
• Where powered tests are required the voltage and polarity of the socket outlet is automatically tested.
• The appliance is plugged back in and powered up or left as before the test.

Step 2 Tagging:

• When an appliance has been tested, a pass or fail label is printed and placed near the plug on the power lead.  Where the lead is removable as in the case of most computers, printers and monitors, a pass or fail label is also placed on the appliance itself.
• All labels have the appliance type on it eg computer, IEC lead, extension lead along with a unique asset number and barcode.   Every time the appliance is tested this asset number is scanned or manually entered into the tester.  In this way an appliance can be tracked from location to location and a complete testing record is available for each appliance.
• The colour of the label will change each time it is tested.  Generally though the colour of the label on the first test will follow the time of year RuGBY convention:
  • Red-December, January and February
  • Green-March, April and May
  • Blue-June, July and August
  • Yellow-September, October and November.
• Portable RCD testing – For portable RCD’s ie in powerboards and extension leads, RCDs will be automatically tested as part of AS3760 requirements.  For fixed RCD Testing click here.
• 3 Phase testing – The same tests done on single phase appliances will be done on pluggable 3 phase equipment.  Although special adaptors are required, 3 phase tests will be listed on the same report as the single phase tests.
• Repair of Faulty Items For safety, faulty items will be tagged “Out of Service”, and pointed out to the client.  The appliance will then either be left out of service or repaired or disposed of.  Three Pin Testing will do minor repairs ie replace male or female plug ends, replace powerboards and IEC leads.
• Asset/ test list reports.
  • At the completion of every job, the testing data is uploaded to a computer and a detailed colour asset/test list is generated.  This report lists assets on an area by area basis and the client can know what appliances are in each area.  Details shown are the name of the asset, the asset number, whether the test passed or failed, the date of the test , the test period and the due date for the next test.  The total number of tests is also shown on every report.
  • A hard copy of the tests are usually mailed out, but soft copies are also available.
  • Test results are kept at Three Pin Testing for the mandatory 7 year period.

• Certificate of Compliance.

When a complete area has been tested, Three Pin Testing will issue a Certificate of Compliance to AS3760.  This is evidence that the employer has carried out his duty of care for electrical safety.  This can be kept on hand to show WorkSafe or the insurance company.

• Free retesting reminders – Every test has an expiry date.  As a free service the client will be notified prior to any tests expiring and advised of a suggested date for retesting.