sparks
ELECTRICAL NEWS
february
2014
6
contractors’ corner
Getting to grips with SANS 10142–1 by Hannes Baard
More nitty-gritty on the OHS Act’s definitions just for the fun of it
HERE we are in month two of 2014
already! Strange how time flies when
you’re enjoying yourself – whether
it’s work or play – right?
I bet most of you who had the
privilege of a year-end break didn’t
notice time passing and, for the guys
who still like what they do, the same
would probably apply.
What I have to say this month
could be ‘old hat’ for those of you
who have had the time to delve
deeper into what seem to be the
obscurities that I alluded to in the
closing paragraph of last month’s
column (
Getting down to the nitty-
gritty of the OHS Act’s definitions
).
So, for the benefit of those of you
who were too busy working and for
those who were too ‘busy’ having
a fun holiday to worry about little
things…
ag
well, I’ll explain again.
And expand on it too, just for the
fun of it.
Some of you may recall that we
looked at the definition of ‘machin-
ery’ in the Occupational Health and
Safety Act (Act 85 of 1993), also
known as the OHS Act.
I said: ‘Machinery’means:
“Any
article or combination of articles
assembled, arranged or connected
and which is used or intended to
be used for converting any form of
energy to performing work, or which is
used or intended to be used, whether
incidental thereto or not, for develop-
ing, receiving, storing, containing,
confining, transforming, transmitting,
transferring or controlling any form of
energy.”
Now, read the above definition
again – slowly… You can also haul
out SANS 10142-1 if you like. Do
you see that this definition from
the Occupational Health and Safety
Act could even describe a com-
plete electrical installation? It does
describe other installations such as
those operating with steam, but for
now I’ll stick to electrical installa-
tions.
In SANS 10142-1 we encounter
‘machinery’ very early on. In fact, as
early as page three of the Introduc-
tion to SANS 10142-1, which informs
us where SANS 10142-1 is applica-
ble and where not. In particular, it
highlights the often neglected (or
ignored?) electrical interconnections
on units of machinery.
Now, have a look at a couple of
definitions from SANS 10142-1 that
reference ‘machinery’ and that might
help to clarify (or cloud) matters a
little.
Clause 3: 3.4
– ‘Appliance’ meansma-
chine, tool, device or instrument that is
operated by electricity for the purpose
of doingwork, or for providing heat,
light or motion, or inwhich electrical
energy ismodified into another form
cal energy in telecommunication, televi-
sion or radio circuits’.
In the above, ‘machinery’ actually
means (or refers to) things such as
conduit, distribution boards, single
core cables, trunking and the like.
And, just to confuse things a tad,
we get the following definition in
the Occupational Health and Safety
Act:
‘Plant’
and this
includes fixtures,
fittings, implements, equipment, tools
and appliances, and anything which
is used for any purpose in connection
with such plant.
It seems as though the legislator
realised early on that if he does not
take a ‘belt and braces’approach,
someone will start arguing that
‘plant’that is not a plant, is also not
an appliance. We will never win. And
this opens up an avenue for huge
differences of opinion, interpretation
and the resultant sometimes nasty
arguments!
If the ‘machinery’and ‘plant’are not
(by definition) ‘properly used’– which
means
“used with reasonable care, and
with due regard to any information,
instruction or advice supplied by the
designer, manufacturer, importer, seller
or supplier”
; or, put differently, if you
have scant regard for the safety in-
structions in or on the box, or you are
plain reckless or negligent, you might
just find yourself having to foot your
own doctor’s bill if you get injured.
of energy.
Taking electricity and providing
heat for instance, is exactly the same
as taking electricity and modifying it
into another form of energy – what
else is a heater doing other than tak-
ing electrical energy and turning it
into heat energy?
The same goes for a drilling
machine, grinder, washing machine,
stove, a pool pump or any other
pump and a ceiling fan, all of which
are appliances and are thus ‘machin-
ery’ in terms of the definition.
Something that is perhaps not so
clear is where ‘machinery’ is not a
machine as you might think, is found
in
Clause 3: 3.34
– ‘Electrical installa-
tion’.
Here it means:
‘machinery, in or
on any premises, that is used for the
transmission of electrical energy from
a point of control (see 3.56) to a point
of consumption (see 3.55) anywhere
on the premises, including any article
that forms part of such an installation,
irrespective of whether or not it is part
of the electrical circuit, but excluding
a) Anymachinery of the supplier that is
related to the supply of electricity on the
premises;
b) Anymachinery that is used for the
transmission of electricity of which the
voltage does not exceed 50V, where such
electricity is not derived from themain
supply of a supplier; and
c) Anymachinery that transmits electri-
Therefore, from the above it follows
that the‘user’(by definition),
“in
relation to plant or machinery
”, means
“
the personwho uses plant or machin-
ery for his own benefit or who has the
right of control over the use of plant
or machinery, but does not include a
lessor of, or any person employed in
connectionwith, that plant or
machinery”.
And a little more confusion
creeps in when, a little further on,
the Act addresses a Certificate of
Compliance in the Electrical Instal-
lation Regulations that includes
the term ‘lessor’ when it comes to
certain responsibilities; whereas, in
the above definition, ‘lessor’ is not
included.
What is clear from the above is
that there is a multitude of similari-
ties between the definitions of the
Occupational Health and Safety
Act (Act 85 1993), the Electrical
Installation Regulations and SANS
10142-1. So, be very careful not to
fall into the trap of attempting to
interpret the Occupational Health
and Safety Act and/or its Regula-
tions by using the definition word-
ing of SANS 10142-1 and
vice versa
.
To quote from SANS 10142-1
Clause 3: “For the purposes of this
part of SANS 10142 (SABS 0142), the
following definitions apply…”
But, more on that next time.
Michael Straton, president of the Electrical Contractors Associa-
tion of South Africa (ECA(SA)), says that it has been brought
to electrical contractor’s attention, throughmedia alerts and
individual manufacturers, that there is an influx of counterfeit
electrical components and, in particular, circuit breakers.
“The ECA(SA) urges all electrical contractors to purchase their
supplies only from authorised distribution partners or local repu-
table distributors to ensure that goods purchased and installed,
comply. Remember that if the price you pay for a component is
a ‘steal’, it probably is.”
He urged electrical contractors to be“vigilant on behalf of
their customers, to ensure that customers receive a good quality,
properly functioning installation”.
“End-users, who carry responsibility for their own electrical in-
stallations, should always use the services of registered electrical
contractors, who will supply correct components, professionally
install them and test the installation,”says Straton.
“Finally, an installation that contains counterfeit products may
function acceptably in normal operating conditions, but when
subjected to a fault, fire and death may occur due to these prod-
ucts malfunctioning,”he warns.
Pierre Nothard, chairman of The South African SAFEhouse
Association – an industry ‘watchdog’– says counterfeit products
are often sub-standard and unsafe – and are produced in order
to mislead. He encourages the public to become whistle blow-
ers:“SAFEhouse welcomes reports of unlawful products and
misrepresented services so that these cases can be exposed to
the market at large.”
Legislation
The National Regulator for the Compulsory Specifications Act 5
of 2008 was enacted to administrate andmaintain compulsory
specifications in the interest of public safety and health.
The Act, which is available on the Internet, states
inter alia
, that
“no person may import, sell or supply a commodity, product or
service to which a compulsory specification applies except in
accordance with that specification”and anyone found to be
guilty of an offence is liable on conviction to a fine or to impris-
onment for a period not exceeding one year.
Mohamed Khader of Spoor Fisher, Patents, Trademarks and
Copyright Attorneys based in Pretoria, points out that Section
2(2) of the Counterfeit Goods Act 37 of 1997 provides as follows:
A person who performs or engages in any act or conduct prohib-
ited by subsection (1), will be guilty of an offence if –
(a) at the time of the act or conduct, the person knew or had rea-
son to suspect that the goods to which the act or conduct relates,
were counterfeit goods; or
(b) theperson failed to take all reasonable steps inorder toavoidany
act or conduct of thenature contemplated in subsection (1) frombeing
performedor engaged inwith reference to the counterfeit goods.
He further points out that Section 19(3)(a) of the Counterfeit
Goods Act, provides that“
A court that has convicted a person of an
offence contemplated in Section 2(2) must, when consideringwhich
penalty to impose, amongst others take into account any risk to
human or animal life, health or safety or danger to property (whether
movable or immovable) that may arise from the presence or use of
the counterfeit goods in question.
“This section is highly relevant inmatters that relate to counter-
feit electrical equipment,”he warns.
To access the full IEC brochure, go to:
pdf/conformity_assessment/IEC_Counterfeiting_brochure_LR.pdf
... continued from page 1
Counterfeit goods a major global problem
