The rules, one by one
What AS/NZS 3003 requires in a body-protected area
Every rule that applies to an ordinary practice room, in plain English, with where it sits in AS/NZS 3003:2018 (including Amendment 1:2019). For practice managers who want to understand the quote, and electricians who want the clause.
How to read this page
These are our own words, not the standard’s: the text, figures and tables of AS/NZS 3003 are copyright and the wording that binds is in the standard itself, sold by Standards Australia and Standards New Zealand. Section numbers come from the published contents; sub-clause numbers are given where we have checked them. If your copy says otherwise, tell us.
Heights on the wall
The wall opposite the door, seen from inside the room. The numbers match the list.
- 1Protected outlets above the bench, each with the amber indicator and marked with the RCD that protects it.
- 2The room’s RCD: no higher than 2 metres, above the bench, readily accessible, labelled with its switchboard, circuit breaker and number.
- 3At least 500 mm from the light switch by the door, so nobody trips the room reaching for the light.
- 4The green sign, 200 by 90 mm, top edge at 2 metres, inside the room, with the test label on it.
- 5Between 2.0 and 2.3 metres: an outlet for a wall screen is treated as out of reach, but it is still RCD protected.
- 6Above 2.3 metres: permanently mounted non-medical equipment such as an air conditioner is exempt from the patient-area rules.
The 2-metre rule at the door
The entrance from above: the room on the left, a corridor, a locked store beyond it.
- 1The doorway. The 2 metres is measured from here with a lead pulled taut, not along the skirting.
- 2A corridor outlet within 2 metres counts as part of the room: RCD protected, identified, on the room’s RCD.
- 3Further down the corridor, beyond the lead’s reach, an ordinary outlet.
- 4Behind a locked door (or through a second doorway): within 2 metres as the crow flies, but excluded.
- 5The cleaners’ outlet, beige, on its own circuit and its own 10 mA RCD, within 15 metres of the room.
The whole room from above, with the chair, the RCD and the 15-metre walk to the cleaners’ outlet, is on the home page.
Deciding and recording which rooms are patient areas
The practice decides, room by room
A room is a patient area if mains-powered medical equipment will be applied to a patient in it. The decision is based on the procedures carried out there, not on what the room is called, and it is the practice’s (the ‘responsible organisation’), with input from clinicians, equipment suppliers and the electrician. The electrician does not classify rooms. Any patient area that is not cardiac-protected has to be body-protected: there is no third, lesser option.
Section 2.2, classification of patient areas; Table 2.1; Appendix A on planning
Body-protected or cardiac-protected follows the equipment
Equipment that touches the body (a dental handpiece, an ECG, an ultrasound probe, a laser) leads to a body-protected area. Equipment that can make a direct electrical connection to the heart (cardiac catheters, some theatre and intensive-care equipment) leads to cardiac-protected. Almost every private practice room is body-protected.
Section 2.2 and Appendix A; equipment classes come from the medical equipment standards the standard refers to
Write it down and keep it on the premises
The practice must keep a written record of every patient area and its classification, of every room it has decided is not a patient area and why, and of every alteration or change of use. Victoria’s regulations and Western Australia’s guidance both expect this to be handed to the electrician in writing before work starts. The classification record template on this site is laid out for exactly that.
Clause 2.2.1 (documentation), Section 2.14 (additional documentation)
Boundaries are walls and doors
A patient area runs to its full-height walls and doors. Curtains, partitions, nib walls and a staff station do not make a boundary. A patient ensuite or washroom opening off the room is part of the area.
Section 2.2
Circuits and supply
Each room has its own circuits
The final sub-circuits that feed a body-protected area serve that room (and its ensuite) only. Outlets are not looped from one treatment room to the next, so a fault or a tripped RCD in one surgery never takes out the room beside it. The chair, imaging equipment and anything else the supplier specifies get dedicated circuits of their own.
Sections 2.3 and 2.4, supply and low-voltage a.c. supplies
USB and other charging outlets are protected too
Extra-low-voltage charging sockets built into wall plates, USB included, count. In a patient area they are RCD protected like the mains outlets around them.
Clause 2.4.3.1.2 (ELV charging sockets); Section 2.11, ELV supplies
Hard-wired equipment is counted and tested
Permanently connected equipment that is applied to the patient still needs 10 mA protection, and gets a white ‘test only’ outlet beside it so the protection can be tested without disconnecting the equipment.
Sections 2.4 and 2.7
The RCDs (safety switches)
10 mA, Type 1, double-pole, in the room
Every outlet in a body-protected area is protected by a 10 mA Type 1 RCD that switches both active and neutral and trips within 40 milliseconds. The RCDs live in the room, on a wall plate or a small switchboard for that room, not back at the main switchboard.
Section 2.8, residual current devices
No more than 12 points on one RCD
One RCD can protect up to 12 points. A point is a socket-outlet or a piece of hard-wired equipment, so fixed equipment counts against the twelve as well. A room with more points simply has more RCDs. This is the rule people misquote as ‘12 power points’.
Clause 2.8.3(a)
Nothing upstream at 30 mA
The 10 mA RCD in the room must not sit behind an ordinary 30 mA RCD on the switchboard. Two RCDs in series means the wrong one can trip, and a trip at the switchboard takes the room out from somewhere nobody in the room can reach. The circuit is protected by its 10 mA RCD alone.
Section 2.8
Where the RCD goes on the wall
Readily accessible to staff: no higher than 2 metres, above the bench if it is on the bench wall, and at least 500 mm from a light switch near the door so nobody turns the room off reaching for the light. Each RCD is labelled with the switchboard and circuit breaker that feed it and its own number, so the ‘From RCD 2’ on an outlet means something.
Section 2.6, access to controls and indicators; Section 2.8; Section 2.12, identification
Socket-outlets
Every outlet protected, and showing it
Each outlet carries a single amber (or yellow or orange) indicator light that shows the circuit is live, and is marked as RCD protected with the number of the RCD that protects it. The outlet does not carry the switchboard or circuit breaker label; that goes on the RCD.
Section 2.7, socket-outlets; Clause 2.7.4.1, labelling
Colours mean supply
White outlets are the normal supply. Red is essential supply (backed by a generator), dark blue is uninterruptible supply, and beige is the cleaners’ outlet, marked for cleaning purposes only. A practice without a generator or UPS will only ever see white and beige.
Section 2.7
The 2-metre rule at the door
An outlet outside the room that a 2-metre lead could reach from the doorway counts as part of the room and is RCD protected the same way. Measure with the lead pulled taut from the doorway, not along the wall. Outlets behind a locked door, or reached only through a second doorway, are excluded; so is anything that needs a key or tool to get at.
Section 2.7
Height zones: 2.0 m and 2.3 m
Outlets above 2.0 metres are treated as out of reach, so a screen outlet high on the wall need not be accessible, but it is still protected. Above 2.3 metres an outlet is exempt from the patient-area rules only if it supplies permanently mounted non-medical equipment, such as an air conditioner.
Section 2.7
The cleaners’ outlet
A beige outlet on its own circuit, protected by its own 10 mA RCD that protects cleaners’ outlets only, so a vacuum cleaner can never trip the room or be plugged into a patient outlet. It can be inside the area or within 15 metres of it, and one can serve several rooms. MRI rooms are the exception.
Section 2.7
Isolating fixed equipment
An isolator within reach for equipment you cannot unplug
A dental chair’s supply usually sits under the base where nobody can reach the plug. Equipment like that gets an isolating switch within reach that breaks all live conductors, so it can be shut off for servicing or in an emergency.
Section 2.10, isolation switches; and the Wiring Rules, AS/NZS 3000
Earthing
Body-protected earthing is the Wiring Rules, done carefully
A body-protected area’s earthing requirements sit in Section 3 and largely follow the Wiring Rules. The heavy equipotential bonding of every metal object in the room, with earth terminals and test points, is a cardiac-protected requirement in Section 4. Some regulator guidance lists bonding under body-protected areas too, so expect your electrician to earth or bond metallic plumbing and fixed metal fittings within the patient’s reach, and ask which section they are working to.
Section 3.2, earthing (body-protected); Section 4.4, earthing and equipotential bonding (cardiac-protected)
The sign and the labels
The green sign, 200 by 90 mm, top edge at 2 metres
Every body-protected area has the green sign with the body-protected symbol, inside the room where it is seen on entering, 200 mm wide by 90 mm high with its top edge 2 metres above the floor. It carries the test label showing when the room was last tested and by whom.
Section 7, identification of patient areas; Section 7.2, the body-protected sign
Labels that match
The RCDs, outlets and switchboard labels cross-reference each other: the outlet names its RCD, the RCD names its circuit breaker and switchboard. After alterations the labels are updated so the record is still true.
Section 2.12, identification; Section 6.4, identification after alterations
Testing, new and routine
Tested and verified before the first patient
New or altered work is inspected and tested to the standard before the area is used on patients: RCD trip current and time, earthing, polarity, the labelling and the sign. The standard provides a commissioning checklist and a statement-of-conformity form for this. Who signs it off, and whether an independent inspector is involved, depends on your state.
Section 2.13, testing and verification; Appendix B, commissioning checklist; Appendix C, statement of conformity
Routine inspection and testing, at least every 12 months
Every body-protected area is inspected and tested at intervals not exceeding 12 months, using the standard’s routine checklist: the RCDs trip as they should, the earthing is intact, outlets and labels are in order, the sign is there. The date goes on the test label. Alterations should not go ahead until the area has a current test.
Section 8.2, routine inspection and testing of body-protected areas; Appendix E, routine inspection checklist
Alterations and repairs
Changing anything in the room has rules of its own
Adding outlets, moving the chair, installing fixed equipment of 2.0 kW or more, repairing a fault and changing a room’s use each trigger specific requirements, including bringing an unsigned patient area up to the standard before or during the work. They have their own page.
Section 6, alterations and repairs: 6.2 alterations, 6.3 repairs, 6.4 identification
Changing an existing room?
Moving the chair, adding outlets, new fixed equipment, a room with no sign, an expired test label: each has its own rule in Section 6.
Common questions about the rules
How many power points can be on one RCD in a body-protected area?
Twelve points. A point is a socket-outlet or a piece of hard-wired equipment, so fixed equipment counts too. Rooms with more points have more RCDs. (AS/NZS 3003:2018, Clause 2.8.3(a).)
How high can the RCD be mounted in a treatment room?
No higher than 2 metres, readily accessible, above the bench if it is on the bench wall, and at least 500 mm from a light switch near the door. (AS/NZS 3003:2018, Sections 2.6 and 2.8.)
What colour are the outlets in a body-protected area?
White for normal supply, red for essential supply, dark blue for UPS supply and beige for the cleaners’ outlet. Each has an amber indicator and is marked with the RCD that protects it. (AS/NZS 3003:2018, Section 2.7.)
Do outlets outside the room need to be protected?
Yes, if a 2-metre lead pulled taut from the doorway could reach them. Outlets behind a locked door or through a second doorway are excluded. (AS/NZS 3003:2018, Section 2.7.)
How big is the body-protected area sign and where does it go?
200 mm by 90 mm, inside the room where it is seen on entering, with its top edge 2 metres above the floor, carrying the test label. (AS/NZS 3003:2018, Section 7.2.)
Does a body-protected area need equipotential bonding?
Body-protected earthing is set out in Section 3 and largely follows the Wiring Rules; full equipotential bonding of everything in the room is a cardiac-protected requirement in Section 4. Metallic plumbing and fixed metal within the patient’s reach is still earthed or bonded. Ask your electrician which section applies.
Sign-off is set by your state
The standard says what the room needs. Who certifies and inspects it is state law.
Pick your state
See who certifies and inspects there.
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Other states and New Zealand
Pick your state for its rules and the electricians listed there, or ask us to find one. Electricians and builders can get listed.
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