A guide published by Dotto
The switchboard at home, circuit by circuit
A plain-language guide to the safety equipment in an Australian home: the safety switch and its test button, the Regulatory Compliance Mark on appliances, power boards and extension leads, recalls, and electricity after a storm or flood. Every rule is quoted from the regulator that wrote it, with a link to the page.
Three devices that look alike and do different jobs
Queensland’s Electrical Safety Office notes that “Safety switches, circuit breakers and fuses are often confused as being the same thing.” Regulators are careful to separate them, because only one kind is there to protect people.
Safety switch (RCD)
Energy Safe Victoria says a safety switch “monitors the flow of electricity through a circuit”, “detects a problem that may pose a risk to personal safety” and “turns the power off within 0.03 of a second”. It “always has a test button and ‘30ma’ printed on them.”
Circuit breaker
A circuit breaker “provides short-circuit and over-current protection such as when a power point is overloaded”, in Energy Safe Victoria’s words. Queensland’s Electrical Safety Office puts the difference simply: “Circuit breakers are installed to protect circuit wiring and appliances, while safety switches protect people.”
Surge diverter
Surge diverters “protect the property from voltage surges such as those resulting from a lightning strike”, according to Energy Safe Victoria.
“Surge diverters and circuit breakers do not act as safety switches for personal protection against electric shock.”
Energy Safe Victoria, Household wiring
Western Australia’s regulator gives the reason: a current strong enough to kill a person flows long before a fuse blows or a circuit-breaker trips. Energy Safe Victoria adds a limit of its own: safety switches “may not protect all wiring and electrical appliances and will not prevent all electric shocks.” The safety switch guide goes further, state by state.
Each state writes its own rules
The Electrical Regulatory Authorities Council (ERAC) brings together Australia’s and New Zealand’s electrical regulators, and says plainly that each Australian state and territory, and New Zealand, regulates electrical safety separately. So this guide lets each state speak for itself. These are the regulators whose own pages it quotes:
| State | Regulator | Pages quoted here |
|---|---|---|
| Queensland | Electrical Safety Office | Safety switches, frequently asked questions, electrical safety during storms |
| Victoria | Energy Safe Victoria | Household wiring, using electricity safely, storms and energy safety |
| New South Wales | NSW Fair Trading | Avoiding electrical accidents, safety labels for electrical goods |
| Western Australia | Building and Energy, Department of Local Government, Industry Regulation and Safety | RCD safety switches, electrical appliances |
South Australia, Tasmania, the ACT and the Northern Territory have their own regulators too; ERAC keeps a list of its member regulators (its list may show older names). Who may work on a switchboard, and the paperwork that follows, are also set state by state, on pages such as NSW electrical licences, Victoria’s Certificates of Electrical Safety, Queensland’s “don’t do your own electrical work” and Western Australia’s having electrical work done.