Statutory Competent Person
Implementing OHS act of 1993 and SANS 10142-1 and 2.
For many years electrical installations were left to the mercy of all kinds of “electrical specialists”. Property owners had very little knowledge or choice when it came to safe and properly designed of electrical installations.
Electrical Contractors who have limited knowledge of new technology, switchgear selection, motor control gear and best practices, offer their services while very few decision makers are able to judge how current their knowledge of technology is and how concerned they are to offer professional and safe installations.
On the existing Certificate of Compliance (COC) there are 3 sections.
(1)Design responsibility.
(2)Procurement responsibility.
(3)Installation responsibility.
Until now very few property owners or managers took notice of (1) and (2). This is quite sad because these are the most important roles in the installation and also the reason why so many COC`s are of no value.
The value of a good COC lies in getting the best design, procurement, installation and then only the COC follows with a safety report from the Statutory Appointed Design Responsible Person as specified in the OHS Act of 1993. The new regulations, which aims at protecting the end user with a safe and risk free installation, is aimed at improving the status of a Certificate Of Compliance.
Remember the certificate, the installation and your investment in it means little if all 3 functions are not soundly carried out.
The new regulations also specify that apart from the COC other documentation must be in place, such as the design documents, safety reports and tests. This means that there are many COC`s that don’t mean anything.
Questions you should ask yourself given your responsibility of safety to workers and the investment you make in electrical infrastructure include: (these are questions you will be asked in case of an accident on-site or by a site inspector)
If you are concerned about this risk of responsibility and need to appoint a Statutory Competent Person on your site, consider Cobus Verster from Efficient Electrical Energy Management to fulfill this role of providing design, procurement specification and installation specifications, final safety reports after the contractor or local electrician completed the project.
In this way all the correct documentation and accountability can be managed by the property owner or manager, protecting himself (or herself) from the many risks which he or she is accountable for without realizing what that means.