If you’ve ever had an item tested and tagged, you may have noticed the technician attaching a coloured label to your device. This tag helps the tester (and the customer) keep track of when inspections are carried out, and when they are next due. Test and tag colours are administered by trained technicians and applied in accordance with Australian standards.
National legislation requires all business owners, managers, and anyone responsible for safety in their workplace, to adhere to the joint Australian and New Zealand safety testing standards. Currently, we work to the AS/NZS 3760:2010 standard for the in-service safety inspection and testing of electrical equipment, and the AS/NZS 3012:2010 standard for electrical installations – construction.
Electrical Tag Colours
As a general rule, electrical tags should be applied to any item that plugs in; this might include an extension cord, electrical tool, or appliance. Only a trained technician should complete inspection and tagging work. PAT testing is a very important element.
What are test and tag colours?
There are 7 different colours our technicians use to label equipment. These colours are red, blue, orange, green, white, yellow, and black. If you are working on a construction, demolition, or mining site, the AS/NZS 3012:2010 has assigned the first four colours to specific time intervals. If the environment is not a construction, demolition, or mining site, the test & tag technician may choose their own colour coding system (as long as the tagging information complies with the AS/NZS 3760:2010).
Test & Tag Colours – Construction, Demolition, Mining
According to the AS/NZS 3012:2010, the following tags apply:
- Red: December, January, February
- Green: March, April, May
- Blue: June, July, August
- Yellow: September, October, November
In these environments, electrical appliances and equipment must be tested at least once every 3 months. After the technician has completed the testing, they must apply a label that corresponds to the period of testing. The electrical tagging colours come in tri-monthly intervals. You also must know why RCD tripping that is also important.
Using Your Own Test and Tag Colours
If you are carrying out inspections in any other environment, there are no set rules about which tags you use to identify a time period. If you commonly work in both construction sites and offices (for example) it might be easier to adhere to the same rules for the red, green, blue, and yellow tags.
Commonly, the following test and tag dates are used with these corresponding colours:
- Orange: six monthly intervals (January-June)
- White: six monthly intervals (July-December)
- Black: yearly testing
There are no legislative restrictions around which tag a technician chooses to use. It’s simply a matter of personal preference and an organised system. They may even choose to use grey or burgundy tags – it’s up to them.
Aside from the test & tag colours, Jim’s Test & Tag technicians include a variety of other details on their labels. The label will include our logo, the name of the inspector, the date of the test, the date of the next test, and the standard adhered to.
A report must accompany all test and tag work. This report will contain details about each part of the tests carried out as well as all the information contained on the label. Test and tag colours and detailed reports combine to help our team members monitor testing requirements for businesses.
Free Reminder Service
In order to help our clients with their testing requirements, we offer a free reminder service. This way, our technicians take care of every interval. Business owners are busy – we get that. We make sure we know the Australian testing standards inside and out so that our clients can get on with their work. Our coloured tagging system is just a small part of the larger data management system we use here at Jim’s Test & Tag.
Are you looking for testing and tagging services? Are you thinking about training as a test and tag technician? No matter what brought you to our blog today, we’d love to hear from you. We have franchising opportunities and safety testing services available across Australia.
Call us on 131 546.
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