Testing frequency checker

Four questions. Get your recommended testing interval, the reasoning behind it, and what to record. No email required.

The full interval matrix

These are the intervals AS/NZS 3760 works from for equipment in a typical New Zealand workplace. The checker above walks you to a row; the whole table is here so you can read it directly, cite it, or hand it to someone.

Situation	Interval	Why
Construction and demolition sites	3 months	Outdoors, damp, physical abuse, frequent relocation. AS/NZS 3012 also applies.
Hire and lease equipment	3 months, or before each hire	Unknown users, unknown treatment between hires.
Factories, workshops, warehouses	6 months	Flexing leads, dust, vibration, mobile plant.
Commercial kitchens and laundries	6 months	Heat, steam, grease and constant handling degrade cords and insulation.
Offices, retail, schools, hospital wards	12 months	Controlled environment, light handling.
Stationary workshop equipment, low abuse	12 months	Not flexed or moved, though the surrounding environment is still harsh.
Low-risk stationary equipment, documented risk assessment	Up to 5 years	Benign environment, never moved. Requires a written risk assessment on file.
Low-risk stationary equipment, no risk assessment	12 months	Would qualify for a longer interval, but only with the assessment behind it.

A tolerance of roughly two weeks either side is generally accepted, and can be varied where a risk assessment supports it.

Adjusting for equipment type

Environment is the first filter. Equipment type shifts things within it.

Equipment	How it changes the interval
Hand-held tools	Drills, grinders, heat guns, sanders. Cord flexed constantly, tool gets dropped. Test at the shortest interval that applies to the environment and never extend.
Extension leads, power boards, portable RCDs	Statistically the most common point of failure on any site. Treat at least as often as the tools they feed. Portable RCDs also need push-button testing far more frequently — often daily on construction sites.
Portable equipment moved regularly	Vacuum cleaners, heaters, kettles, portable lighting. Standard interval for the environment.
Stationary equipment rarely moved	Can often justify a longer interval than its surroundings suggest, if the environment itself is not the risk.
Desktop IT and office equipment	The classic candidate for the five-year allowance, provided it genuinely never moves.

What to record in your register

The interval is only half of it. A date with no justification is a number someone picked. Per item, record:

An item identifier and its location
The test date and the result
The tester’s name
The next due date
The reasoning behind the interval — one sentence per zone is enough

That last line is what turns a number into a defensible position. Our free asset register template has the fields already set up.

Why this matters. You have a legal duty to keep equipment safe and to be able to show how you know. An interval with the reasoning written beside it is what turns that duty into something you can evidence. Full background in how often you should test and tag and what the law actually requires of you.

General guidance based on AS/NZS 3760, not a substitute for a site-specific risk assessment. The standard is copyrighted and sold by Standards New Zealand; this page summarises and explains it rather than reproducing it.