RCD testing in Queensland means checking that your safety switches still cut the power fast enough to protect people from an electric shock. For workplaces, how often you test is set by the Electrical Safety Regulation 2026, and the testing itself is carried out to the Australian Standard AS/NZS 3760:2022. If RCD testing, smoke alarm rules and landlord compliance all blur into one confusing pile of paperwork for you, you're not alone. Landlords and small business owners across Moreton Bay ask us about it all the time, so here's the plain-English version.
What an RCD safety switch is and how it protects you
An RCD (residual current device) is the safety switch in your switchboard. It constantly compares the current flowing out on the active wire with the current coming back on the neutral. If some of that current leaks away to earth, for example through a faulty appliance, water in a power point, or a person, the RCD senses the imbalance and cuts the power.
The common household and workplace RCD is rated at 30 milliamps, which is the level designed to protect people from a serious shock. It's not the same as a circuit breaker.
| Safety switch (RCD) | Circuit breaker | |
|---|---|---|
| Protects | People, from electric shock | Wiring, from overload and short circuits |
| Reacts to | Tiny leakage to earth (30 mA) | Too much current on the circuit |
| How to spot it | Has a "Test" or "T" button | No test button |
| Needs regular testing | Yes | Not in the same way |
Here's the part most people don't know: an RCD can look perfectly fine and still be faulty. The test button can click and the switch can still trip too slowly to do its job. That's exactly why proper testing matters.
Push-button tests versus trip-time tests
There are two very different tests, and they're often confused.
| Push-button test | Trip-time (operating-time) test | |
|---|---|---|
| Who does it | Anyone, including the business owner or tenant | A competent person with a calibrated RCD tester |
| What it proves | The switch's mechanism moves when you press the button | The switch cuts power within the time limit at its rated leakage current |
| Equipment needed | None | Specialist RCD test instrument |
| Recorded result | Pass or fail | Measured trip time in milliseconds |
| Catches a slow switch? | No | Yes |
The push-button test is a quick health check. The trip-time test is the one that tells you whether the switch would actually save someone.
The rules that apply to RCD testing in Queensland
Queensland does things a little differently from the other states. There are four layers, and the higher layer wins when they disagree.
The Electrical Safety Regulation 2026 replaced the 2013 Regulation, which expired on 31 August 2026. The Queensland Government says it doesn't introduce new obligations. It mainly renumbers and tidies up the rules. If you were compliant before 1 September, you're very likely still compliant, but any safety paperwork, procedures or tags that quote the 2013 Regulation should be updated.
AS/NZS 3760 doesn't use one interval for everything. A dusty factory floor or a building site is harsher on equipment than a quiet office, so harsher environments get shorter intervals.
Every testing interval, trip-time limit, landlord and tenant responsibility on one printable guide, plus a blank RCD test record sheet for your compliance folder.
Download the free PDFRCD testing intervals for Queensland workplaces
How often your safety switches need testing depends on the type of work done on site. Pick yours below to see the maximum intervals from WorkSafe Queensland's published guidance.
Fixed RCDs (in the switchboard)
- Push-button test
- 6 months
- Trip-time test
- 2 years
Portable RCDs (plug-in)
- Push-button test
- 3 months
- Trip-time test
- 2 years
Maximum intervals. WorkSafe notes longer intervals may apply in some cases under AS/NZS 3760, so we'll confirm your exact schedule when we inspect.
Here's the full picture in one table.
| Type of work | Fixed RCD push-button | Fixed RCD trip-time | Portable RCD push-button | Portable RCD trip-time |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Office work | 6 months | 2 years | 3 months | 2 years |
| Service work (other) | 6 months | 2 years | 6 months | 2 years |
| Service work: commercial cleaning | N/A | N/A | Daily or before each use | 6 months |
| Manufacturing work | 6 months | 12 months | Portable RCDs prohibited in manufacturing work since 1 March 2008 | |
| Amusement work | 6 months | 12 months | 3 months | 12 months |
| Construction work (AS/NZS 3012) | 1 month | 12 months | Daily or before each use | 3 months |
Source: WorkSafe Queensland, Testing and tagging of electrical equipment, updated September 2026. "Daily or before each use" means whichever is the longer.
How the intervals compare for fixed safety switches
Harsher sites get shorter bars. A building site needs its switchboard RCDs pushed every month, while a quiet office can go six months.
Who needs RCD testing: businesses, landlords and strata
Businesses
Anyone running a business or undertaking in Queensland has a duty to provide an electrically safe workplace. That includes retail shops, offices, cafes, warehouses, medical practices, aged care and education providers.
Landlords and property managers
Every power point circuit in a Queensland rental must have a safety switch. Many property managers book an electrical safety check between tenants so safety switches and smoke alarms are checked in one visit.
Strata and body corporate
The body corporate generally looks after the RCDs on common-property circuits, like car park lighting, common-area power and pool equipment.
What Queensland rental properties need
- A safety switch on all power point circuits, as a minimum. If one isn't there, the owner must have an approved switch installed as soon as practical once a proposed tenancy agreement has gone to the tenant.
- Regular push-button testing by the owner, property manager or tenant. The Electrical Safety Office recommends every three months.
- If a safety switch doesn't cut the power when tested, the tenant should contact the emergency repair contact in their tenancy agreement straight away.
- To enter and test, the owner or property manager must give the tenant proper notice with an Entry Notice (Form 9).
- Best practice goes further: the Electrical Safety Office strongly recommends safety switches on every circuit, including lights, air conditioning, oven and hot water.
Sellers must declare whether a safety switch is fitted to the power point circuits. If you buy a home without one, you must have one installed within 90 days of the transfer.
Landlord or tenant: who is responsible for testing?
In a leased commercial property, responsibility is usually split. The lease can change this either way, so treat the table below as the typical starting point, not the final word.
| Item | Usually the landlord | Usually the tenant |
|---|---|---|
| RCDs in the main switchboard | Yes, as part of the fixed installation | Sometimes, if the lease says so |
| Safe installation at lease start | Yes | No |
| Portable and plug-in RCDs | No | Yes, as the business operator |
| Power boards and equipment brought in | No | Yes |
| Common-property circuits (strata) | Body corporate | |
Some leases put all RCD testing on the tenant. Others leave it with the owner. Read your lease, and if it isn't clear, ask the property manager to confirm in writing before something goes wrong.
How fast an RCD should trip
A common 30 mA RCD must trip within 300 milliseconds when tested at its rated leakage current. That's less than a third of a second. A healthy switch usually trips well inside that limit.
| RCD rating | Where you'll find it | Maximum trip time at rated current |
|---|---|---|
| 10 mA | Medical areas and some special locations | 40 ms |
| 30 mA | Homes, rentals, shops, offices, most workplaces | 300 ms |
If the trip time comes in over the limit, the RCD has failed, even if the push-button test seemed fine. It's a counter-intuitive result for a lot of business owners, but the button and the timing test measure different things. A 30 mA switch also shouldn't trip at half its rating (15 mA), which helps separate a genuinely faulty switch from one that's simply doing its job.
What happens during a professional RCD test
When we test your safety switches, we work through your switchboard circuit by circuit and note every result:
- Visual inspection of the switchboard and each RCD for damage, overheating or signs of moisture
- Push-button test on every device
- Timed test with a calibrated RCD tester, measuring how fast each switch cuts the power
- A check of which circuits each RCD actually protects, so you know about any unprotected circuits
- Every result recorded against the RCD's location, ready for your report
Power to each circuit is only off for a moment during testing. For a business, we can plan testing around your opening hours so your customers barely notice we're there.
What our RCD testing process looks like
Book a time
Call or book online. We'll confirm a fixed price and a time that suits your opening hours.
We test every RCD
A licensed electrician inspects, push-button tests and trip-time tests each safety switch.
You get the report
You receive a written report with every result, trip time and next due date.
Your test report and keeping compliance records
A test isn't much use if you can't prove it happened. Your report lists each RCD, where it is, the date tested, the result, the measured trip time and when it's next due. Here's what a few lines look like:
| RCD | Location | Rating | Push-button | Trip time | Result | Next due |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| RCD 1 | Main board, kitchen power | 30 mA | Pass | 22 ms | Pass | 6 months |
| RCD 2 | Main board, front power | 30 mA | Pass | 27 ms | Pass | 6 months |
| RCD 3 | Sub-board, workshop | 30 mA | Pass | 345 ms | Fail, replaced | Retested same day |
Sample report lines for illustration only.
Keep the reports together, whether that's a folder in the office or a shared drive. If an inspector from the Electrical Safety Office, your insurer or a property manager asks for your records, you can hand them over in minutes.
What to do when an RCD fails its test
It means the switch may not protect anyone if a fault happens today. Portable equipment that fails must be taken out of use straight away and tagged so nobody uses it.
We replace failed RCDs, test the new device, and then look for the cause. Common culprits include:
- A worn-out RCD that has simply reached the end of its life
- A faulty appliance leaking current to earth
- Water getting into an outdoor power point or light
- Damaged or deteriorated wiring
- Too many appliances on one RCD, so normal background leakage adds up and causes nuisance tripping
Every appliance leaks a tiny amount of current as part of normal operation. Manufacturer guidance is that a 30 mA RCD should normally carry no more than about a third of its rating, around 10 mA, in background leakage. Load too much onto one switch and it trips for no obvious reason. Spreading circuits across more RCDs usually fixes it, and it's often part of a switchboard upgrade.
When we replace an older switch, we fit a modern Type A RCD. The Wiring Rules were amended so that older Type AC RCDs are no longer installed, because Type A units also detect the pulsing DC leakage that modern electronics can produce. We'll give you a fixed written price for any repair before we do it.
Queensland licensing rules for who can test RCDs
Queensland has stricter rules than some other states:
- A business that provides testing services to other people or businesses must hold an electrical contractor licence that covers the work.
- The person doing the testing must be competent to do it, through training, experience, qualifications or a mix of these.
- A short test and tag course on its own doesn't give a business the licence to sell the service.
- Repairing electrical equipment without the right electrical work licence is an offence.
Connected Electricians and Cablers holds QLD Electrical Contractor Licence #90211, which you can check on the public register. Our owner, Josh Atkinson, is a Master Electrician and was named Master Electrician of the Year for South East Queensland in 2021 by Master Electricians Australia.
RCD testing for Moreton Bay homes, rentals and businesses
We're a family-owned business based in Bellmere, and we test safety switches for homes, rental properties, strata buildings and businesses right across Moreton Bay, from Caloundra to Chermside. That includes Caboolture, Morayfield, Burpengary, Bribie Island, North Lakes and Redcliffe.
Every job comes with fixed written pricing before we start. If a safety switch keeps tripping and won't reset, that's a different story. Call our 24/7 emergency line and a local electrician will ring you straight back.
Need your safety switches tested?
Not sure whether your business is due, or which work category you fall into? We'll tell you when we inspect, and you'll get a fixed price before we start.
RCD testing in Queensland: common questions
How often do RCDs need to be tested in Queensland?
For workplaces it depends on the type of work. Fixed switchboard RCDs need a push-button test at least every 6 months in most workplaces (every month on construction sites), and a trip-time test every 12 months to 2 years. Homes and rentals should push-button test every three months, as recommended by the Electrical Safety Office.
Can I test my own safety switches?
Yes, you can do the push-button test yourself by pressing the "Test" or "T" button on each switch. It proves the mechanism works. It doesn't measure how fast the switch trips, which needs a calibrated RCD tester and a competent person.
Do rental properties in Queensland need RCD testing?
Rentals must have a safety switch on every power point circuit. The Electrical Safety Office recommends push-button testing every three months, and many property managers also book a professional electrical safety check between tenants.
Did the Electrical Safety Regulation 2026 change the testing intervals?
The Queensland Government says the 2026 Regulation, which started on 1 September 2026, doesn't introduce new obligations. It restructures and clarifies the 2013 rules. It's worth updating any procedures or paperwork that still quote the 2013 Regulation.
What's the maximum trip time for a 30 mA RCD?
300 milliseconds when tested at its rated 30 mA. A 10 mA RCD must trip within 40 milliseconds. Anything slower is a fail, even if the test button works.
Will my power go off during testing?
Only for a moment on each circuit as its RCD is tested. For businesses we plan testing around your opening hours, and we'll let you know before we test circuits running computers or fridges.
Sources
- WorkSafe Queensland: Testing and tagging of electrical equipment
- WorkSafe Queensland: Electrical Safety Regulation 2026
- Residential Tenancies Authority: Electrical safety
- Electrical Safety Office Queensland: Frequently asked questions
- AS/NZS 3760:2022 In-service safety inspection and testing of electrical equipment and RCDs
If you know a landlord or small business owner who's confused about the rules, share this guide with them.