Portable Appliance Testing and Tagging Guideline

The University of Western Australia's Electrical Equipment Safety Policy states that Testing and Tagging at UWA, has to be done in accordance with AS/NZS 3760:2003, if done using a Portable Appliance Tester (PAT) it can be carried out by a competent person and the person carrying out the PAT testing has to have a copy of AS/NZS 3760:2003 which is available from the Libraries on line resources.

West Australian electrical licensing require an electrical license if you want to test and tag with electrical test equipment such as meggers and multimeters due to the risks associated with exposed probes and wiring.

The requirement of having a copy of AS/NZS 3760:2003 In-service safety inspection and testing of electrical equipment is because the standard contains all of the information, tables and methods required to do a test and tag, so there is no need to reproduce the same information here, apart from the definition of:

1.4.5 Competent Person

A Competent Person is one who the responsible Person ensures has the necessary practical and theoretical skills, acquired through training, qualification, experience or a combination of these, to correctly undertake the tasks prescribed by this Standard.

Note 1 A Competent Person is not required to be a registered or licensed electrical practitioner.

Note 2 Competency levels may need to be updated following technological advances in both the testing instrumentation available and the equipment being examined.

Note 3 It is expected that the Competent Person shall:

(1) Be able to use test equipment safely and effectively;

(2) Have an understanding of the dangers of electricity, leading to an appreciation of the need for inspection and testing;

(3) Have an understanding of the construction of Class 1 and Class 2 equipment, and of the terms: basic, reinforced and double insulation, protective earth and earth continuity, insulation resistance and earth leakage current;

(4) Have an understanding of the application and requirements of this standard;

(5) Have an understanding of the relevant legislative requirements appropriate for the jurisdiction they are operating within.

Note 4 Guidelines to the knowledge of electrical principles with which a Competent Person is likely to be familiar are listed in Appendix J, an informative Appendix, applicable to New Zealand only.

An Electrical Testing and Tagging course can be provided by external training providers such as Challenger TAFE.

2.3 Inspection and Testing

2.3.1 General

Where applicable, in-service inspection and testing shall include;
(a) An external inspection of the equipment and the connecting facilities (e.g. supply flexible cord);
(b) Protective earth continuity tests for Class 1 equipment, power boards and cord sets;
(c) Insulation testing, which may be achieved by measuring insulation resistance, or leakage current;
(d) Confirmation of the correct polarity of live conductors in cord sets with re-wireable plugs and cord extension sockets.

2.4.1 Non-compliant equipment

where in-service inspection or testing identifies equipment which fails to comply with the criteria given in this Standard, the equipment shall be appropriately labelled to indicate that the equipment requires remedial action and warn against further use, and with drawn from service. The choice of remedial action, disposal or other corrective action shall be determined by the owner or the person responsible for the safety of the site.

Any repairs to faulty electrical equipment has to be done by a person with an appropriate electrical license.