What Changed Under the Electrical Safety Regulation 2026 

Very little changed in substance. The 2026 Regulation restructures and renumbers the 2013 rules, and the existing regulatory requirements still apply. 

Licences issued under the old regulation stay valid, and the regulator hasn’t signalled any shift in enforcement. Most of the follow-up work sits in the admin layer. Documents to review now include: 

• Head contract specifications and subcontract agreements citing 2013 section numbers 

• Site safety management plans and electrical SWMS templates 

• Isolation, lockout and energised work procedures 

• Facility maintenance manuals and asset register notes that reference specific clauses 

None of this is urgent in a legal sense. A tender spec quoting a section that now covers something else still reads poorly when a dispute lands on someone’s desk. 

Who’s Legally Allowed to Do the Work 

Only a licensed electrical worker, working for a licensed electrical contractor, can lawfully carry out light and power work in Queensland. A worker licence on its own doesn’t allow an electrician to contract directly with a builder or facility owner. 

This is where subcontract chains catch people out. A typical case involves a fit-out firm bringing in a labour-hire electrician for a ward refurbishment. If nobody in that chain holds a contractor licence, the work wasn’t lawfully contracted, and the paperwork at the end means very little. 

Pre-start checks on the contractor: 

• The contractor licence should be verified on the Electrical Safety Office’s public licence search rather than taken from a photo of a card. 

• The qualified technical person nominated on that licence needs to still be with the business. 

• Everyone on the tools should hold an electrical worker licence, with apprentices supervised to the required level. 

• Public liability and workers’ compensation cover should match the actual entity on site. 

Most operators reckon the licence search takes two minutes. It’s also the check most often skipped on rushed jobs. 

Before Installation: What to Lock Down 

Pre-installation checks should confirm the design meets AS/NZS 3000 and any supply alterations are lodged with the distributor. Isolation plans also need to suit the people who actually use the building. Issues caught at this stage cost far less to resolve than variations raised mid-build. 

Key items to confirm: 

• Maximum demand calculations checked against existing supply, especially where a refurb adds air conditioning or kitchen load 

• Supply and metering arrangements designed to the Queensland Electricity Connection Manual (QECM) 

• An Electrical Work Request lodged with Energex or Ergon where metering or supply changes are involved 

• The asbestos register reviewed before anyone opens an older switchboard, since pre-1990 boards often have asbestos-backed panels 

• A shutdown plan agreed with clinical, teaching or operational staff 

• Spare switchboard capacity for future circuits, since retrofitting a full board is a much bigger job later 

Queensland only permits work on live equipment in narrow circumstances, with a documented risk assessment and, in most cases, a safety observer. Inconvenience isn’t an accepted ground, so shutdowns in hospitals and aged care get planned months ahead. Generator changeover is usually tested first. 

Health, Aged Care and Education Sites: The Extra Layer 

Healthcare sites carry extra obligations under AS/NZS 3003 for patient areas. Aged care and education sites need closer attention to RCD coverage and shutdown planning. The base regulation applies everywhere, and the standards stack up quickly in these buildings. 

Patient areas fall into two classes. Body-protected areas need either 10 mA RCD protection or an isolated supply with line isolation monitoring. Cardiac-protected areas need that same protection plus an equipotential earthing system, with documented testing. Getting the classification wrong is one of the costlier mistakes in health fit-outs. 

A common lesson from the field involves room reclassification. A consulting room becomes a treatment room with patient-connected equipment, but nobody tells the electrical contractor. The room now needs a higher protection level, and the existing wiring doesn’t comply. 

Points to check on these sites: 

• Patient area classifications are set by the facility’s governing body with clinical input, then confirmed before design and again before handover. 

• New final subcircuits need 30 mA RCD protection, which AS/NZS 3000:2018 requires for most socket outlet and lighting circuits. 

• Hospital work can involve emergency power supply arrangements under AS/NZS 3009, so new circuits need assigning to the correct supply. 

• Aged care conversions can leave unprotected legacy circuits sitting beside new work. 

Schools tend to cop a hammering on fit-out timelines because work squeezes into holidays. That’s precisely when testing gets compressed, so it pays to lock in commissioning time early. 

During Installation: Signs the Job Is on Track 

Mid-job checks should confirm work matches the drawings, inspections happen before linings close and isolation controls are actually used. Builders who walk the site with these in mind rarely get surprised at handover. 

Practical indicators: 

• Cabling inspected and photographed before plasterboard goes up, with photos tagged by room 

• Lockout devices and danger tags in use, with a permit log that’s actually filled in 

• Switchboard labelling updated as circuits go in, rather than all at once on the final day 

• Construction wiring and portable equipment tested and tagged at three-monthly intervals under AS/NZS 3012 

• Circuit schedules revised whenever a variation adds or moves a circuit 

The common line in the trade is that labelling done at the end is labelling done badly. Facility staff find out years later, usually during a fault at 2 am. 

After Installation: Testing and Certification 

All light and power work must be inspected and tested to AS/NZS 3000 and AS/NZS 3017, and the contractor must issue a certificate. For installation work, that’s a certificate of testing and compliance. 

Standard testing happens in two stages. Insulation resistance, earthing continuity, polarity and circuit connections are checked before energising. Polarity is confirmed again at the supply, along with earth fault loop impedance and RCD operation, once the installation is live. Live testing, including testing for dead, is classed as energised electrical work and must meet energised work requirements. 

Patient areas add a third stage. They’re tested to AS/NZS 3003 after energising, before the area goes into service. 

The results sheet holds the actual measured values, and it’s the document facility teams rely on years later. A sound handover pack should include: 

1. The certificate of testing and compliance 

2. Full test results, including measured RCD trip times 

3. As-built drawings and current circuit schedules 

4. Emergency lighting commissioning records 

5. AS/NZS 3003 commissioning records for any patient areas 

There’s no point throwing money at a fit-out and accepting a one-page certificate with nothing behind it. Asking for the results costs nothing and tells facility teams a lot about the contractor. 

Ongoing Obligations for Facility Managers 

Once the builder leaves, the person in control of the building carries the duty to keep the electrical installation safe. That duty sits under the Electrical Safety Act 2002 and doesn’t lapse because the work was certified. 

Routine maintenance draws on several standards, with AS/NZS 3760 covering RCDs and portable equipment and AS/NZS 2293 covering emergency lighting. Typical intervals look like this: 

• Fixed RCDs need push-button testing at least every six months. 

• Trip-time testing for fixed RCDs runs annually in workshops and harsher environments, and every two years in low-risk office-type areas. 

• Portable RCDs need push-button checks daily or before use in workshops, and three-monthly in most other settings. 

• Emergency lighting gets inspected and discharge tested every six months. 

• Portable equipment test and tag cycles depend on environment and risk. 

• Annual thermal imaging of main switchboards isn’t mandatory, though it catches loose terminations early. 

Kitchens, science labs and trade workshops in schools may sit in a higher-risk category than standard classrooms. Aged care facilities can also fall into a separate residential category, so the testing contractor should confirm which intervals apply. Records matter as much as the tests themselves, since the regulator will ask for maintenance history after any incident.