Testing and Tagging?

[smash]

Can anyone tell me how often equipment in a commercial studio needs to be tested and tagged, and also, what exactly should be tested specifically i.e. extension leads only, sockets, do computers need to be tested?

[graemeh]

Nothing in my commercial (ie: I do this full time and for money ie: a pittance) studio has ever been tagged, and if it works properly and looks ok I consider it tested.

I was under the impression that only hire stuff need be tested and tagged... have I been under a rock for too long?

[Chinagraf]

Nothing in my place either, but I believe if I take one of my mic pres onto a building site I need to get it tagged...

[Chris H]

As far as i know, gear that is "mobile" needs to be tagged. ie If the outboard is in a portable rack it needs to be tagged. As most of my gear goes with me to venues for recording, etc i have tagged it all, mic power supplies, computer power chords sidecar consoles power amps etc etc.......

[tony]

My understanding of Queensland Rules is that all non-installation (not hard wired tothe wall) electrical equipment over 18 (24?) volts must be test tagged if used for business or on a business premises. Computer and office type equipment that doesn't move around can have a five year test tag. Equipment that moves around a bit but is not likely to be damaged like rack units, every year. Equipment that may get damaged or gets high usage, like power tools or power leads that get rolled up (rolled over) regularly need to be tagged every six months. Equipment that gets hired out should be tested before every hire.

It's not usually a problem until there is a accident and your insurance/ lawyers want to know why nothing has been tested.

[NYMo]

Hi there,

I have all my live gear tagged...sometimes we can't play at a venue (by contract) unless everything
is tagged.

Wonder if there is a clause in the insurance for the studio that says they will not pay unless
gear is electrically tagged ???

Most probably knowing them..... !!

Cheers
N
Y
M
O

[Chris H]

Was doing a live mix for a street festival two yrs ago and a Govt inspector walked up and told me he was doing an inspection of the test and tagging........he had a real smug look on his face as if he was expecting to catch me out and thought i should be sh!&%ing myself. I knew all was ok and casually told him to have a look around. After he checked my gear he came back with a "thanks mate" as he went on to check other stall holders etc........its the only time in over 15 yrs of doing shows that i have been inspected but it shows to go you that they are out there.

[Thirteen]

My information was that as far as businesses go, any device that is subject to stress or moving around needs to be tagged, eg: power tools and the like. Great government we have, it is so difficult to find out what the law is so as not to break it....

[Chris H]

My information was that as far as businesses go, any device that is subject to stress or moving around needs to be tagged, eg: power tools and the like. Great government we have, it is so difficult to find out what the law is so as not to break it....

.....they have speed cameras to catch the speeding drivers....how about cameras to catch the non taged leads..
stupid i know, but if the govt was serious about reducing road casualties and serious injury they should spend the money raised by the speeding fines on moving power poles that are next to the edge of a highway or better still eliminating the poles by putting cables underground, a lot of lives would be saved.

[rick]

every single thing in a commerical premises in nsw need to be tag and tested
different periods for different industries.
if you have a lethal incident and you have not done this
just watch the "insurance policy " disappear from under your rock

[Linear]

I'm interested to know about earth leakage circuit protectors. I have one installed here, and ~anything~ faulty will trip it. I plugged a powerboard in once that was obviously iffy - it cut the power.

My understanding is that it continuously monitors the current between live and neutral. if there is any difference between in and out, it assumes that it is leaking somewhere to earth and trips the circuit. Any electricians care to elaborate?

This would pretty much make it impossible to electrocute yourself, right? The only thing that wouldn't is if you touched live and neutral, and the current passed through your body (instead of going to ground).

As for tagging and testing, I'm assuming that there is a device that you can buy that will test equipment. Looks like I might have to bite the bullet and buy one... even if it cost $50 per item to test and tag, I'd be up for at least $3k...

Chris

[OzDrum]

In Vic, each "installed" item is a 12 monthly tag, each "mobile" item is a 3 monthly tag...
We ended up sending a few of our guys to do the test n tag course and brought the test n tag machine to do all of our leads ourselves
and got labels printed up with our logo etc on them. makes us nice and safe as well as we can easily identify all of our leads easily.
cheers
Geoff

[Kurt]

There is a TAFE course (a day or two I think?) to get "qualified" to do T&T. No idea what, if any, special equipment you need to have.

Like Linear, everything in my PA is run on earth leakage breakers from the 3 phase distro, only one thing has ever tripped it (so I know it works!).

To quote Scatterbrain.. "1884 has passed, forget about big brother. Welcome to the '90's where the government's your mother!"

[rick]

i keep meaning to do the certificate chris , its a 2 half day thing at ryde tafe and about $400 without the machine
$1000 with the machine designe for "builders and such trades people " to keep legal
if you end up booking into let me know maybe we can car pool
i see it as the only sane way to keep everything legal .
there is another 1/3 day one that teaches you to make a power lead legally

[Linear]

I'm up for that. Let me look into it, $1k including the course is pretty good value.

Next on my list - emergency lighting ;-0

Chris

[Linear]

Hmm, just checked out the workcover website for requirements. looks like it isn't necessary to test and tag equipment that is installed in a safe (ie non-hostile) operating environment...

6. What electrical equipment needs to be regularly inspected and tested?
Not all workplace electrical equipment requires regular inspection and testing, however some equipment is used in a situation that does pose a risk to the user due to the nature of its location and type of use.

The OHS Regulation lists the following workplace environments, where electrical equipment must be regularly inspected, tested and maintained:
• electrical equipment used in construction work, and
• electrical equipment that could be affected by a hostile operating environment. This is an operating environment at a place of work where electrical equipment is, in its normal use, subjected to operating conditions that are likely to result in damage to the equipment. For example, workplaces where electrical equipment is likely to be damaged by moisture, heat, vibration or workplaces where corrosive chemicals are used or workplaces where electrical equipment could be subject to mechanical damage.

Electrical equipment not referred to in the above categories does not require regular testing. In this situation you must, in accordance with the risk management requirements of the OHS Regulation, carry out a risk assessment of your electrical equipment.

Following completion of the risk assessment you may determine that in addition to the above legislative requirements testing of other items of identified electrical equipment may be warranted.

http://www.workcover.nsw.gov.au/Publica ... pment.aspx

[wez]

looks like it isn't necessary to test and tag equipment that is installed in a safe (ie non-hostile) operating environment...

actually we've discussed this very topic here previously... a 'hostile' environment is pretty much anywhere where people and electricity and equipment that runs on electricity are in the same space. i believe the interpretations vary from state to state (which really doesn't help) but it is generally a very broad application of the word 'hostile'.

rob will be along shortly i'm sure, he know's this stuff...

[Linear]

Hostile environment being:

This is an operating environment at a place of work where electrical equipment is, in its normal use, subjected to operating conditions that are likely to result in damage to the equipment.

So I think power tools, mobile fridges/catering equipment, equipment for hire etc.

Equipment sitting in a rack inside a studio isn't, in it's normal use, subjected to operation conditions that are likely to result in damage.

Open to interpretation nevertheless.

Chris

ps I did read Rob's article on testing and tagging...

[astrovic]

Just picking up on Chris V's post on OHS requirements above, and Rick's comments about insurance earlier, it would be worthwhile to check your insurance policy and/or discuss the issue with your insurer so you know exactly what is required to meet your insurance obligations.

This is because, while there will usually be an exclusion (ie claim denied) if the claim arises from breaching some law (e.g OHS), there might well be a separate exclusion based on maintaining the insured equipment in a particular way.

So there remains a possibility that while you might not be required to tag and test under OHS laws or similar (e.g because you're not operating in a hostile environment), there might still be an obligation to tag and test under your insurance policy.

There's a fair change the two coincide so there's no issue, but personally I hate the though of paying insurance premiums for the sake of it and only finding out you hadn't been complying with the policy when you actually need to make a claim. So I make a point of trying to know exactly what my policy requires, and if I have any doubt, I ask to avoid all doubt.

[The Tasmanian]

I thought the most important thing was to make sure you have your electrical power board with safety trip switches - seems like the smarter way to go as all power comes from this souurce, I always thought these safety trips stopped electrocution - somebody please correct me if this is not true about theses trip switches - Rob where are you?

[rob]

settle down lads, i'm here. Just in from a day spent wiring gear up at the Grand Prix circuit...oh and getting the test and tag up to date on a bunch of equipment installed here.

i think the AT article sums things up pretty well. It is here for those interested : http://proharmonic.com/articles/AT63_ON_THE_BENCH.pdf

I guess the thing I learnt when researching this article is that it is very difficult to get a really straight answer out of any of the state regulating authorities. Remember at the end of the day if anything goes pear shaped then a brace of lawyers will be marching in from all directions and spinning and twisting the words of the variously applicable standards, regulations and acts to argue their case. I know someone quite well who is a prosecuting lawyer for worksafe SA and the key point she made about this issue and indeed anything to do with OH&S is the concept of taking all reasonable steps to avoid injury in the workplace. Thus in the extract Linear quotes the fundamental statement in there is the performing of a risk assessment. This isn't just casting your eye around and going " it all looks sweet to me' ; this is formal documented process of risk assessment. With this in mind you would have a hard time arguing that you performed a rigourous risk assessment of your workplace and decided that you DIDN'T need to test and tag. However you could argue that you have a big rack of gear that it all plugs into one GPO ( power outlet ) and that you have tested and tagged the whole rack as ONE unit......but then don't go swapping out that tired all eq for a new shiny one without testing the whole rack again. So if your gear gets chopped and changed it starts to make sense to test each bit of gear individually.

The frequency of testing is variable depending on the use and level of risk of damage and here you can make a documented decision. Thus a console PSU could be done every five years. A tube mic PSU that only gets used in the studio once a year, an extension cord you take out to gigs all the time every 3 months.

If you hire gear it must be every three months and a visual inspection before every hire.

I test and tag everything that comes through the workshop if it has an internal mains power supply, with rare exceptions where I might just be doing a trivial repair that in no way affects the electrical integrity ( ie putting a new knob on or such )

fear of voiding your insurance policy is one thing...fear of killing someone is another thing altogether.

[Howard Jones]

The one comment I would make is this: in NSW, if an incident occurs that involves Workcover coming in to do an analysis of what went wrong, they do the following:-

[1] audit everyone on the site. Electricians, plumbers, photocopy repair guy - anyone whosover who happens to be there on the day
[2] they never, ever conclude an investigation without fining one of the parties who have been audited
[3] these fines can be astronomical

Therefore, I would recommend doing anything and everything to cover yourself (in advance) of anything going wrong. Not to mention that you may save your own, a client's or a tradesman's life...