Is the body-protected area test every 6 months or every 12 months?

Every 12 months at most. AS/NZS 3003:2018 requires routine inspection and testing at intervals not exceeding 12 months, which is why the test label on the sign carries a date and the room is overdue once that date is a year old. Some testing companies describe it as “every 6 to 12 months”: 6 months is their offer, 12 months is the limit.

There is a 6-monthly step in some places, but it is not the same test. New Zealand’s RNZCGP Foundation Standard asks practices to press the test button on their RCDs every 6 months and record the date, who did it and the result, alongside the annual inspection by a registered electrical inspector. Some Australian contractors suggest the same push-button check. It is a useful habit that catches a dead RCD early, but it does not replace the 12-month test, which measures trip current and trip time with an instrument.

Alterations have their own rule: they go ahead only if the room has had its routine test in the previous 12 months.