The Chief Inspector of the Department of Labour (DoL) has given notice that, with effect from 1 June 2012, it will assume responsibility directly for the statutory registration of electrical contractors, a function that had previously been delegated by the Chief Inspector to a somewhat obscure industry body known as the Electrical Contracting Board of South Africa (ECB). This move by the DoL follows the controversy last year after the ECB had in turn outsourced the statutory registration of electrical contractors to Voltex, an electrical wholesaling group with branch offices throughout South Africa that sells electrical installation materials to electrical contractors (see
Registration of electrical contractors: confusion reigns supreme, Vector October 2011, page 12).
After objections from various "non-Voltex" electrical wholesalers and the Electrical Contractors Association of South Africa (ECA), and in response to questions from EE Publishers, the DoL said that "the Chief Inspector will not make such arrangements with a commercial electrical wholesaler" and that "the Chief Inspector will not allow such arrangements to happen".
When it became clear to Voltex that the ECB did not in fact have the express authority of the Chief Inspector to sub-delegate the statutory registration of electrical contractors, and that Voltex did not have the express authority of the Chief Inspector to perform this function, Voltex then abandoned its ambitions to undertake registration of electrical contractors on behalf of the ECB, and ceased with further registrations.
The Chief Inspector, Thobile Lamati, has now instructed the ECB to hand over the register of electrical contractors kept by the ECB to his office by no later than 14 April 2012, and has indicated that as of 1 June 2012 the registration of electrical contractors will be done at the Labour Centres of the DoL throughout South Africa.
The registration by contractors is required in terms of the Electrical Installation Regulations of the Occupational Health and Safety Act. The statutory responsibility for this task rests with the Chief Inspector at the DoL, who may delegate this function. For many years registration of electrical contractors had been delegated to the ECB.
To register, an electrical contractor is required to have a physical address, and must either be registered as an accredited electrical tester for single phase, an installation electrician or a master installation electrician with the DoL, or must employ such an accredited person on a full-time basis.
The Electrical Installation Regulations further require that only a registered electrical contractor may undertake work on the electrical installation of a third party, and that only an accredited electrical tester for single phase, installation electrician or master installation electrician may issue a certificate of compliance (CoC) for such work.
The purpose of such registration of electrical contractors and accredited persons is to put in place statutory controls to ensure the competence of companies and persons performing work on electrical installations in the home, workplace and built environment, and to control the issuing of CoCs for existing, new and modified electrical installations.
The ultimate intention of these control measures is to ensure that electrical installation work is supervised and signed-off by accredited persons, meets minimum safety standards, and complies with relevant legislation and regulations in order to ensure public safety.
In response to the termination notice given by the DoL, ECB chairman Tony McDonald has indicated that the ECB accepts "with a certain sadness" that its services are no longer required by the DoL. He further indicates that he trusts that the DoL will have the necessary ability and resources at its disposal to continue with this important task.
After this set-back, it appears that the ECB will not be "throwing in the towel", but will endeavor to reinvent itself and focus on industry training in the electrical contracting sector, a field that certainly requires some serious attention after the failures of the ESETA to deliver in its mandate. The ECB has since announced its intention to "re-establish the Diploma in Electrical Contracting Management and many other technical courses". Time will tell if the ECB can make this transition successfully.
In the meantime one can only hope that the Department of Labour will be more successful in the registration of electrical contractors than it has been in administering the Workman's Compensation Fund and the Unemployment Insurance Fund.
