Safety switch and RCD testing with the results written down, not just a pressed button

Pressing the test button tells you the switch moves. A proper test tells you it trips fast enough to do its job. A safety switch, or RCD, is only worth having if it cuts the power in the fraction of a second it was designed to, and the only way to know that is to test it with an instrument and write the result down.

Since February 2020 we have run more than 450 safety switch testing rounds, from a single unit to whole resorts, room by room. This page is about testing the switches you already have. To have safety switches fitted or upgraded, see safety switches. To have portable appliances tested as well, see test and tag; we often do both on the same visit.

How often does a safety switch need testing in Queensland?

It depends where it is. At home, the Electrical Safety Office recommends pressing the test button every three months. At a workplace the interval is set by the type of work. For office work and most service work, the WorkSafe Queensland table sets a push button test at least every six months and an operating time test at least every two years. Manufacturing and amusement work need the operating time test every twelve months, and construction sites have their own intervals under AS/NZS 3012. If you are not sure which class your site falls into, we work it out with you on the walk around rather than guessing.

Many of the resorts and body corporates we look after book the full round once a year, and some every six months. That is the site's call, made around its own safety plan, and we fit the visits to it.

Rentals and holiday lets

Every power point circuit in a Queensland rental has to have a safety switch, and buying a property or starting a new tenancy starts a 90 day clock to get them fitted. The safety switches page covers that rule in full. Testing is the other half. A property manager with a test record on file for each property can answer an owner, a tenant or an insurer in one email. We test, record each switch against the property, and flag anything that fails before the next guest or tenant moves in. See how we work with property and holiday let managers.

Resorts and body corporates

On a big site the testing is the easy part. The hard part is access: hundreds of switches spread across rooms, villas, plant rooms and common areas, most of them behind a guest's door. We work room by room with reception and housekeeping, do the common property boards first, and record every result against its board and its room. Anything that fails goes to the site manager with a recommendation, and nothing gets replaced until it is approved. A committee gets a record it can table at the next meeting. See strata and body corporate and resorts.

What does a failed test usually mean?

A switch that will not trip, or trips too slowly, gets replaced. One that trips the moment it is reset can be a failing switch or a real leak to earth on that circuit, and in the tropics the usual suspects are an outdoor power point full of water, a hot water element or a pool pump. We find out which before anything gets swapped. If it is the circuit and not the switch, that is fault finding, and you hear about it before we start.

What you get

Every safety switch tested and identified by board and circuit, the result recorded with the date, failures reported in writing, and the next test date set. Testing at an open switchboard is energised electrical work, so it is done by our licensed electricians under Queensland Electrical Contractor Licence 82270.

Sources: WorkSafe Queensland, testing and tagging of electrical equipment, Electrical Safety Office, safety switches.