Almost every electrical failure we attend in a commercial building was preventable, and most of them were visible months earlier to anyone who went looking.
The buildings that don’t have these problems aren’t lucky. They’re running a schedule.
Here’s the schedule.
The compliance non-negotiables
Start here, because these are legal obligations rather than good practice.
Emergency and exit lighting — every 6 months
Under AS 2293.2, emergency and exit lighting must be tested every six months. The test is a 90-minute discharge — the fittings run on battery for the full duration to prove they’d actually work in an evacuation.
You must keep a logbook. This is the single most commonly neglected obligation in Victorian commercial property, and it’s the first thing a fire audit asks for.
Batteries fail silently. A fitting that looks fine and shows a charging light can be incapable of lasting five minutes.
Test and tag — interval depends on environment
Under AS/NZS 3760, portable appliance testing intervals vary by risk:
- Construction sites: 3 months
- Manufacturing, workshops, commercial kitchens (hostile environments): 6 months
- Hospitality and retail: 12 months
- Offices and low-risk environments: up to 5 years
Getting the interval wrong is as much a compliance problem as not testing at all. Match it to the actual environment, not the building’s headline use.
RCD testing — push-button quarterly, full test annually
Push-button testing quarterly. Full operating-time testing annually by a competent person, recorded.
An RCD that no longer trips is more dangerous than none, because everyone believes they’re protected.
Thermographic scanning — annually
Not legally mandated in most cases, but the highest-value preventive item on this list, and several insurers now ask for it.
A loose or degrading connection heats up long before it fails. A thermal scan of the switchboards under load finds it in twenty minutes. The alternative is finding it when the board fails at 3am.
If you do one discretionary thing on this list, do this one.
The annual schedule
Main switchboard and distribution boards
- Thermal scan under load
- Torque check on terminations
- Switchgear condition and age assessment
- Circuit labelling verified against reality
- Board cleaned and moisture ingress checked
- Load measurement against rated capacity
That last point matters more than people expect. Buildings accumulate load — an extra server, a new coolroom, another twelve workstations. Boards get quietly pushed toward their limit by decisions nobody recorded. See switchboard upgrades and repair.
Lighting
- Failed and failing fittings identified as a group rather than replaced one at a time
- Lux levels checked against the requirements for the space
- Emergency lighting coverage reviewed after any layout change
- Sensor and timer settings verified
Group replacement is cheaper than reactive replacement, and it keeps the space looking consistent. See commercial lighting maintenance.
Distribution and cabling
- Cable tray and containment condition
- Flexible leads and extension arrangements — usually a sign of insufficient fixed outlets
- Outdoor and wet-area circuits, including IP ratings
- Pest and water ingress in ceiling and riser spaces
Data and comms
- Comms room ventilation and temperature
- Patching documented and labelled
- UPS batteries tested — these fail silently too
- Capacity against what you’ll need in two years
Plant and machinery — for industrial sites
- Motor control centres inspected
- VSDs and starters checked
- Isolation points tested and labelled
- Emergency stops function tested
- Machine guarding interlocks verified
This is industrial electrical work, and it needs someone who does it regularly.
What actually causes unplanned shutdowns
From what we attend, in order:
Loose connections heating up until something fails. Found by thermal scanning. Prevented by torque checking.
Boards at or past capacity. The business grew; the infrastructure didn’t. Found by load measurement.
End-of-life switchgear. Breakers and RCDs have a service life. Found by knowing how old the board is.
Water ingress. Roof leaks into risers, blocked drains above comms rooms, condensation in external enclosures.
Undocumented modifications. A previous contractor’s work that nobody recorded, discovered during a fault at the worst possible moment.
None of these are exotic. All of them are found by inspection.
Building a programme that people actually follow
Nominate one person as responsible. Maintenance that belongs to everybody belongs to nobody.
Keep one document. A single register covering test dates, results, defects raised and defects closed. Auditors want to see it, insurers want to see it, and it settles arguments with landlords and tenants.
Diary the intervals rather than relying on someone remembering. Six-monthly emergency lighting is the one that slips.
Budget it annually. Maintenance treated as an unexpected cost gets deferred. Maintenance in the operating budget gets done.
Use one contractor. Someone who knows your building finds things faster and spots what’s changed since last time. Continuity is worth more than a marginally cheaper hourly rate.
What it’s actually worth
A maintenance programme costs a predictable amount each year.
An unplanned shutdown costs you the repair, plus emergency callout rates, plus the trading hours, plus the staff standing around, plus whatever the failure damaged. Then there’s the compliance exposure if it turns out the obligation was one you’d been skipping.
The maths is not close.
Talk to us
We run maintenance programmes for commercial and industrial sites across Melbourne — offices, hospitality, retail, warehousing and light manufacturing.
You get a schedule, a register, and someone who knows your building. And when something does go wrong, we answer outside hours.
Registered Master Electrician (REC 25989). Over 200 five-star Google reviews. Lifetime workmanship warranty on everything we install.
Get in touch and we’ll put together a programme that fits your building.
Related: Commercial electrical inspections before you sign a lease · Commercial Electrician Melbourne: complete guide