Compliance by state

Which test and tag colour applies in Queensland right now

On a Queensland construction or demolition site, many principal contractors run the AS/NZS 3012 quarterly colour rotation: red for December to February, green for March to May, blue for June to August, yellow for September to November. Away from construction sites, Queensland law does not mandate a colour at all, only a legible, current test date.

Last checked 25 Sep 2026 against the sources listed at the end of this page.

Official name: AS/NZS 3012 quarterly tag colour rotation (red, green, blue, yellow), used on construction and demolition sites
Regulator: Standards Australia (publisher of AS/NZS 3012), not a Queensland statutory regulator
Who issues it: Whoever tests and tags the equipment: the electrician or a test and tag contractor, following the site's colour if one is set
When: Start of the calendar quarter (colour changes every three months on sites that run the rotation)
Deadline: No statutory deadline for the colour itself; the tag must always show a test date that is still within the equipment's testing interval
Lodgement: Not lodged with a regulator: the tag stays on the equipment and the test record stays with the contractor
Keep records for: Follow your normal test and tag record retention, since the colour on a tag does not replace the underlying test record
Penalty: There is no set penalty for using the wrong tag colour by itself. The exposure is the underlying one: untested or overdue equipment in use, which falls under normal work health and safety duties rather than a colour specific offence.

Homeowner? If you are a site visitor or subcontractor and see equipment tagged in an obviously outdated colour, treat it as a flag to check the printed test date before you plug in, not as a rule violation on its own.

What the certificate must show

A legible tag on the equipment
The date the equipment was tested
The tag colour matching the current quarter, on sites that run the AS/NZS 3012 rotation
The tester's or contractor's identification, where the site or your own process requires it

Recent change

None found specific to Queensland. The quarterly colour itself simply rotates every three months under the RGBY convention.

Produce it from a ServiceM8 job

In Settings > Forms > Add Form, create a form called Test and tag site check.
Add a Choice question, Site colour system, with options RGBY quarterly / Client specified / None, so the technician records which rule the site is running.
Add a Date question for Date tested and a Text question for Tag colour used, so both are captured against the job.
Add a validation step in your own process (a checklist item or a supervisor sign off) confirming the tag colour matches the current quarter before the job is checked out, catching technicians still tagging to last quarter's colour.
Attach the form to relevant construction site job types so it only appears where the colour system is actually relevant.
Review the form each quarter and update any fixed text or dropdown default that names the current colour.

The colour comes from a site standard, not a state law

Searches for "test and tag colours QLD" usually want one thing: which colour to use this quarter. The colour rotation is real, but it is not a Queensland statute. It is a construction industry practice built around AS/NZS 3012, the Australian and New Zealand Standard for electrical installations on construction and demolition sites. AS/NZS 3012 is a purchasable standard, not free legislation, so treat any colour table (including this one) as a practical guide and confirm the current requirement with your principal contractor or site safety plan before you tag a whole site.

Under this practice, construction and demolition sites may run a quarterly RGBY (red, green, blue, yellow) colour code so anyone on site can tell at a glance whether a tag is current. Sites that follow it typically run:

Red: December, January, February
Green: March, April, May
Blue: June, July, August
Yellow: September, October, November

A tag showing last quarter's colour is an easy visual flag for a site supervisor to pull the equipment, even before checking the printed date.

Where the colour rule does not apply

Outside construction and demolition sites, Queensland does not require any particular tag colour. An office, workshop, retail fitout or rental property only needs equipment tagged with a legible, current test date under the general in-service testing standard, AS/NZS 3760. You can run any colour scheme you like there, or none at all, as long as the date on the tag is right and the equipment has not passed its interval.

This is also why you will see conflicting colour tables online: a site running to a client's own safety plan, an insurer's requirement, or a different state's construction convention can land on a different colour for the same quarter. If a head contractor's site rules specify a colour, that instruction overrides any general table, including this one.

Practical risk of getting it wrong

The real risk on a construction site is not the colour itself, it is what an out of date colour signals: equipment that has run past its test interval. A tag colour is only useful as a fast visual filter for supervisors and safety officers doing a walk through, it does not replace the actual test date on the tag or your test records. If your business retests on a fixed calendar interval rather than by site colour, keep both current: the true test date drives compliance, the colour is just how quickly a site spots equipment that is overdue.

Setting this up so it looks after itself

If your electricians work across multiple construction sites in the same quarter, the easiest failure mode is one technician tagging to last quarter's colour out of habit. A ServiceM8 job checklist item for "current test tag colour" at the start of each quarter, reset by whoever manages your form templates, catches this before a whole batch of tags goes out wrong. Pair it with the job's completed date on the test and tag form itself, so the tag colour and the recorded test date always agree.

Sources

Construction and demolition sites may use a quarterly RGBY (red, green, blue, yellow) tag colour system under AS/NZS 3012 and applicable site requirements: red for December to February, green for March to May, blue for June to August, yellow for September to November. Test & Tag Training, test and tag colour guide, checked 25 Sep 2026.
The quarterly colour system is industry practice rather than a mandatory legal requirement: many sites follow it, and workplaces other than construction and demolition sites can generally select their own tag colours and rotation. Test & Tag Training, test and tag colour guide, checked 25 Sep 2026.
Businesses should check state, industry, workplace and client requirements before choosing a tag colour, since site safety plans and principal contractors can set their own colour rule that overrides a general table. Test & Tag Training, test and tag colour guide, checked 25 Sep 2026.