How to read an electrical safety check report

An electrical safety check covers the fixed installation: the switchboard, safety switches, wiring, power points, light fittings and hard-wired appliances. The report is the electrician's record of what they inspected and tested, and what they found on that day.

It's not a Certificate of Electrical Safety. A certificate is a legal document recording electrical work an electrician has done; a report records condition. Energy Safe Victoria says a COES isn't the right document to record a rental electrical safety check, but one must be issued if any repair or maintenance work is carried out. If repairs follow the check, you should end up with both. Our guide to certificates of electrical safety covers the certificate side.

Layouts vary between contractors, but most reports share the same parts: property and electrician details, a summary, the findings, test results and the limitations. Once you know what each part does, any report is easy to read.

Check the basics: the property address, the date, and the electrician's name and licence or registration number. For a rental, Consumer Affairs Victoria says the record should include the electrician's name and licence or registration number, the date, the results including any repairs needed and what was done, and a report prepared under section 2 of AS/NZS 3019.

Energy Safe Victoria's guidance for electricians says the rental check itself must follow section 4 of AS/NZS 3019:2022, the standard for periodic assessment of electrical installations. Rental providers should keep each report with the property records, because the next check, and any question about repairs, starts from it.

Then read the summary. A good one says in plain words whether anything dangerous was found, whether anything was made safe on the day, and how many items fall into each category.

This is the part that matters most, and where the wording varies most. Most reports sort findings into something like the tiers below, and it pays to know which is which before you start asking for prices.

The tiers rank urgency, not the size of the job. A dangerous defect might be one cracked power point; a recommendation might be a whole new switchboard.

Watch the wording around anything made safe. 'Isolated' means a circuit or fitting has been switched off and left off. It hasn't been fixed, and it stays off until it's repaired.

Many reports include a table of test results. You don't need to interpret the numbers, but knowing what was tested helps. Safety switch results show whether each device tripped and, where an instrument was used, how quickly. Insulation resistance results show whether cable insulation is holding up or leaking. Earth continuity and polarity results confirm earths are connected and wires are the right way round.

Look for anything marked as a fail, and check that each one matches a finding in the list. A failed safety switch, or an insulation result far below the others, should appear as a defect with a note on what's needed. If a result looks like a fail but isn't mentioned in the findings, ask.

Energy Safe Victoria describes a safety switch as turning the power off within 0.03 of a second when it detects a problem. Only an instrument test measures that. The button test it asks householders to do every three months shows a switch can trip, not how fast.

Every report has things it couldn't check. A safety check doesn't open walls, so hidden cable is judged by testing. Roof spaces without safe access, locked sheds, furniture against power points, and circuits that couldn't be switched off may all be listed as not inspected or not tested.

Read that list as carefully as the findings. No defects with a long limitations list is a different result from no defects with full access. If an important area was missed, such as the roof space of an older home, ask whether it can be checked on a return visit.

Start with anything dangerous. If it was isolated on the day, plan the repair soon so the circuit can be used again. If it couldn't be made safe, it's the priority.

Next come the defects. Group them so one visit covers several: everything at the switchboard together, all the power point repairs together. A cluster of board defects can also point to replacing the board rather than repairing it piece by piece, and an electrician can tell you which makes more sense.

Recommendations can usually be planned. Tie them to something already on the list, such as a kitchen renovation, an air conditioner, an EV charger or solar. Energy Safe Victoria notes that the Wiring Rules require additional safety switch protection when an existing installation is altered, so a recommendation for more safety switches often comes due anyway when you add a circuit.

Rental providers who entered a new agreement after 29 March 2021 must have all electrical installations and fittings checked by a licensed electrician at least once every two years, and Consumer Affairs Victoria lists 13 October 2026 as the date that requirement extends to all rental agreements. The report is how you show it's been done.

Defects in a rental report are repairs. A dangerous electrical fault is on the legal list of urgent repairs, which rental providers must do immediately, and non-urgent repairs must be done within 14 days of a written request. If you rent and something seems unsafe between checks, tell your rental provider or agent in writing.