sparks
ELECTRICAL NEWS
august
2013
4
contractors’ corner
Mark Palmer, Gauteng Electrical Inspection Authority
The right way is the only way …
AT the risk of soundingpedantic, Imust caution
electrical contractors andRegisteredPersons that,
to complywith legislation, theymay only use the
Certificate of Compliance (CoC) as published in the
Electrical InstallationRegulations, 2009 and theTest
Report as published in SANS 10142 (see 8.8).
This is the
legislated
format – and I emphasise
‘legislated’because if a document, which is
prescribed by legislation, is in any other format, it
is illegal.
I believe that all electrical contractors and, in
particular, Registered Persons, are obliged to
ensure that they are familiar with the prescribed
legislation.
So, what does the law say and where do we
start?
The Occupational Health and Safety Act 85 of
1993 consists of 50 sections, as well as various
other regulations, which place certain respon-
sibilities on both the employers and users. In
particular, the Electrical Installation Regulations
place a great responsibility on Registered Persons
who issue these documents on behalf of users,
who are required to have valid CoCs.
Electrical Installation Regulation 7
Sub-regulation 1
: Subject to the provisions of sub-
regulation (3), every user or lessor of an electrical
installation, as the casemay be, shall have a
valid Certificate of Compliance for that instal-
lation in the formof Annexure 1, which shall be
accompanied by a test report in the format ap-
proved by the chief inspector,
in respect of every
such electrical installation.
I have heard Registered Persons saying that they
believe that the Test Report referred tomust
contain“at least the information as approved by
the Chief Inspector”. However, it is clear from the
Regulation detailed above, that this is not the case
and that the Test Report must be in the
format
approved by the chief inspector,
This begs the question:“Why is this format so
important?”The answer is quite simple. In a
country where standardisation is paramount
in order to remain within global norms, much
of our safety legislation incorporates safety
standards. Such a standard is the SANS 10142-
1Wiring Code, which is incorporated into the
above-mentioned Regulations and is legally
enforceable.
As prescribed by the Regulations, therefore,
it is clear that the Certificate of Compliance is,
in fact, in two parts: The legislative Certificate
of Compliance document in the formof
Annexure 1 (and standardised in format in the
Regulations); and an attachedTest Report, as
standardised by SANS 10142-1 (an incorpo-
rated standard).
SANS 10142-1 Ed 1.8
Introduction:
The Occupational Health and Safety Act, 1993
(Act No. 85 of 1993) (OHS Act), which is admin-
istered by the Chief Inspector of Occupational
Health and Safety at the Department of Labour,
requires that electrical installations comply
with the requirements of SANS 10142-1. It also
requires that a Registered Person, as defined
(master installation electrician, installation elec-
trician or electrical tester for single phase), will
issue a Certificate of Compliance together with
a Test Report. The certificate shall be in the form
of the Certificate of Compliance published in the
Electrical Installation Regulations, 2009, and the
Test Report shall be in the formof the Test Rep
ort
in this part of SANS 10142 (see 8.8).
While, tomany, the definition of a Standard
may be obvious, it becomes prudent for me to
define a standard as found within the scope
of the SABS, and the importance of stand-
ardisation. Put at its simplest, a standard is an
agreed, repeatable way of doing something.
It is a published document that contains a
technical specification or other precise criteria
designed to be used consistently as a rule,
guideline, or definition.
In order to achieve the desired standardisa-
tion whereby users can consistently obtain
a document that is identifiable, the precise
criteria contained in the Test Report must be
repeated to ensure the process.
The SANS 10142-1 Technical Workgroup is
of such a nature, however, that it is under-
standable that the standardisedTest Report
may not always contain sufficient criteria for a
Registered Person to clearly identify the instal-
lation or the portion of an installation that is
being tested, inspected and verified.
To this end, the changes contained in the
Amendment 8 version of the Test Report
allows for additional information to be added
to the approvedTest Report by virtue of‘ad-
ditional pages’. These pages may contain any
additional comments, specifications and/or
drawings to clarify the technical merits of an
installation to suit the Registered Person.
However, no license has been given to any
person to change the legislated‘format’of this
standardised document, which would be det-
rimental to the recipients of such documents.
I therefore caution all Registered Persons
to ensure that they only use Test Reports and
Certificates of Compliance as prescribed by
legislation.
Please take the time to view the legislated
format of the CoC andTest Report onmy web-
site:
