The Queensland certificate of testing and compliance records that the electrical installation or equipment you tested is electrically safe, to the extent affected by the work. The licensed electrical contractor issues it to the person who engaged the work, and keeps a contractor copy. WorkSafe Queensland expects the certificate as soon as practical after testing, with a contractor copy held for five years.
This is the current WorkSafe Queensland Certificate of Testing and Compliance (V6.11-2023). Tradie Forms follows the official section order and maps your answers onto the official PDF layout.
Almost every CoTC rework comes from filling it after leaving site, from the wrong bill-to contact, or with the wrong certificate type. Have these in front of you.
A decision on certificate type
Installation work uses testing and compliance; equipment work uses testing and safety. One tick changes the certification statement on the PDF.
Who engaged the contractor
The person or organisation you would invoice, not automatically the site contact, tenant or owner.
Customer address and site address
Whether they are the same, and the unit, tenancy, shed or board that identifies the job when they differ.
What was tested
The switchboard, circuit, appliance or area, written while the labels and test notes are still in front of you.
The actual test date
The day testing happened, not the booking date, invoice date or the day the office sends the PDF.
Current contractor licence details
Electrical contractor licence number, name on the licence, and phone from the record you actually use for Queensland work.
Certificate type, customer name and address, work tested, test date and contractor licence number gate the download.
Chooses which certification statement appears on the finished PDF. Installation work and equipment work are not the same paperwork moment.
Certificate TypeChoiceRequired
Select Testing and Compliance for electrical installation work (s227 of the Electrical Safety Regulation 2013). Select Testing and Safety for electrical equipment work (s26). The fixed certification wording on the PDF follows this choice; you do not edit that text yourself. Do not reuse last month's heading from habit when the job type changed.
A domestic switchboard replacement, new circuit or fixed wiring change is usually installation work. Repair or testing limited to an appliance or piece of equipment is usually equipment work. Mixed jobs are not a hybrid certificate type: match the tick to what you actually tested and what the customer needs evidence for.
Names the person or organisation the work was performed for, and their address. WorkSafe Queensland treats this as the party that engaged the licensed electrical contractor, usually the party you invoice.
TitleTextOptional
Optional courtesy title such as Mr, Ms or Dr. Leave blank for a company name in the given-names and surname lines, or when the job record has no title.
Given NamesTextRequired
First and middle names for a person, or the leading part of a business name when the customer is a company. On builder and body-corporate jobs, use the engaging entity rather than the site supervisor's personal name.
SurnameTextRequired
Family name for a person, or the rest of the business name. Pair it with given names so the certificate names one clear customer, not a site contact and a bill-to contact mixed together.
Street addressAddressRequired
The address of the person for whom the work was performed. Address search is limited to Queensland and fills the street line, suburb, state and postcode. Check the result when the job software has a different billing address, unit, or rural delivery point. When the installation is at a different site, keep the customer address here and put the site detail in the work-tested description.
StateAddressOptional
Defaults to QLD. Address search may set it; leave the default for Queensland customers unless you are correcting a search result.
PostcodeAddressRequired
Fills from address search. Confirm it against the customer record when you type the street line by hand, especially on new estates and rural runs.
If a builder engaged you for a renovation, the certificate usually goes to the builder unless the owner engaged you directly. A tenant or site contact may need a courtesy copy later; they are not automatically the customer on the form.
Name the installation or equipment, the work type, and enough site context that a customer, office or later sparky can follow it without ringing you. Include the site address here when it differs from the customer address above. WorkSafe Queensland guidance is to give as much detail as practical, such as number and type of equipment, because the certificate copy is also a job record. Keep it factual: not a quote, not a whole job diary, and not a claim over work you did not touch.
Useful
Replacement of main switchboard and testing of affected final subcircuits at rear workshop, 14 Stanley Street, South Brisbane QLD 4101
Too vague
Electrical work completed
On multi-tenancy or strata sites, name the tenancy, unit, level or board. A certificate that only carries a street address can be hard to match to the board you actually tested.
Records when testing happened and under which electrical contractor licence the work was certified.
Date of TestDateRequired
The day the installation or equipment was tested. Today and Yesterday shortcuts are there because this is usually filled on site or the next morning. Do not use the booking date, the invoice date or the day the office emails the PDF. No future date is accepted. On multi-visit jobs, use the day testing that underpins this certificate was completed, not the first rough-in visit.
Electrical Contractor Licence NumberTextRequired
The electrical contractor licence number under which the installation or equipment was tested. Take it from the current business licence record, not from an old PDF or a photo in the camera roll. After renewal, entity change or a subcontracting arrangement, confirm the number still matches the licence used on this job.
Name on Contractor LicenceTextOptional
The name as it appears on the contractor licence, which may differ from the trading name customers see on the van or invoice. Fill it so the certificate lines up with the licence number.
Electrical Contractor PhoneTextOptional
A phone number for the contracting business. Useful when the customer or a later reader needs to reach the licence holder about the certificate.
Save this section as Contractor to prefill it on your next Queensland electrical certificate.
Check saved licence details after renewals, new entities or when a different crew performed or supervised the work. A prefilled block that is out of date is worse than typing once.
Shows the fixed certification statement for the selected certificate type, and records when notice of the certificate was given to the customer.
The installation statement certifies that the electrical installation, to the extent affected by the work, has been tested to ensure it is electrically safe and in accordance with the wiring rules and any other standard applying under the Electrical Safety Regulation 2013. The equipment statement certifies that the electrical equipment, to the extent affected by the work, is electrically safe. You do not edit either statement in the app; both land on the PDF from the certificate type choice.
Date Notice GivenDateOptional
The day you handed or sent the certificate to the person for whom the work was performed. Optional on the PDF, but leaving it blank weakens the completion record. Make it part of site close-out: finish testing, fill the certificate, give or send the PDF, then set this date. No future date is accepted.
The current WorkSafe template does not include a signature field. Completing the required details and giving the PDF is the issue path for this certificate.
Picking testing and compliance for pure equipment work.
The certification statement on the PDF changes with the tick. Installation wording on an equipment-only job, or the reverse, is the classic CoTC mismatch. Match the type to what you tested before filling anything else.
Putting the tenant or site contact in the customer block.
WorkSafe Queensland wants the person for whom the work was performed, usually the party that engaged the contractor and the party you invoice. A builder engagement is not automatically the owner or the tenant on site.
Describing the work as electrical work completed.
That phrase does not tell a later reader what board, circuit or equipment was tested. Name the equipment or installation, the work type and the location.
Using the booking or invoice date as the test date.
The certificate must carry the day the installation or equipment was tested. On multi-visit jobs, a copied office date is the usual source of a silent mismatch with the job notes.
Copying a licence number from last year's PDF.
Renewals, entity changes and subcontracting arrangements leave stale numbers in old certificates. Take the number from the current licence record and check saved contractor details after any change.
Leaving site with the certificate still in draft.
Details go stale once the board is closed and the next job starts ringing. Finish the certificate while the test gear, labels and customer conversation are still in front of you.
Hand or send the finished PDF to the person for whom the work was performed as soon as practical. Tradie Forms does not lodge this certificate with WorkSafe Queensland; customer handover and contractor storage are the process.
Name the file so the office can find it years later. A pattern such as 2026-07-24_smith-builder_toowong_cotc.pdf beats scan0007.pdf when someone asks for a copy in year four.
Keep the contractor copy for five years. Store it in a business-controlled job system or shared drive, not only on one phone or in a personal email account.
File supporting notes with it. Test readings, board photos, scope messages and defect notes explain how you reached the certification statement. The certificate itself is not a full test log.
Treat corrections as a re-issue. If the first download needs a fix, replace the customer and contractor copies with the corrected PDF and note the change on the job.
Check current WorkSafe Queensland requirements for your job. Retention sits with the licensed electrical contractor under whose licence number the certificate was issued.
