Teams doing electrical work on site

[ians]

I am informed by the ECA that every electrical contractor registered with the ECA is suppose to display or at least carry a card with their skill level.

Why are they not doing it ?

Who is responsible for making sure the person working on site has this card with them at all times. The customer ??? because they are responsible for the electrical installation and it should be up to the responsible person to make sure all workers have the correct safety gear and identification? What a load of crap.

If a contractor arrived on my property and expected me to check their staff ... I would throw their a$$ off site.

in fact ... I would insist before they even arrive on site ... that every person who will be working on my property is identified and a list with their qualification emailed to me prior to them arriving on site ... with how long they have worked for the company to prevent walker being dumped on site.

[ians]

Why identifying people who will be working on your property is so important ... you can upload them into your CCTV system so that they dont set off alarms ... it can them track them all day while they are working and if they go into areas they shouldnt be an alert will be set to your phone

[GCE]

I am informed by the ECA that every electrical contractor registered with the ECA is suppose to display or at least carry a card with their skill level.

That' s news to me , where/who did you get that info from

[ians]

ECA technical adviser in JHB.

This seems to be the biggest problem in the industry ... nobody actually knows much about anything .. .then the responsibility is passed on to the customer.

The property lawyer representing the owner in the meeting didnt know that the person renting the property is suppose to keep the COC ... as the responsible person, he indicated that there is no such law ... yet its covered in the OSHACT and electrical regs ... if a property lawyer doesn't even know this, how on earth do you make the customer responsible for the electrical installation ?

It seems everyone knows a little about certain parts.

Then you have companies who drop off staff, who know even less and are unskilled or qualified to be doing most of what they do ... while the responsible person is off driving around doing other things ... collecting material etc.

We end with a situation like we did the other day ... where a classroom full of students are exposed to open DB's and plugs hanging off the wall ... no isolation at the DB ... no barriers to prevent anyone from coming into contact with the live electrical parts ... this industry is a F%^&ken joke.

[ians]

That' s news to me , where/who did you get that info from

Your company is registered with the ECA ?

I made a point of asking why their members are not informed about it ... I was told all ECA members are informed.

Check with your local ECA and let us know.

[Dave A]

ECA technical adviser in JHB.

When was this question asked?
Anthony or Chris?

[ians]

When was this question asked?
Anthony or Chris?

Last week ... Anthony.

Is the information incorrect?

[ians]

My question is where does the public get the correct information ... considering they are responsible for the electrical installation ... maybe a toll free number

[ians]

Who is responsible for creating a platform with the relevant details who can advise all these responsible people ? The DOL ... the ECA ... maybe the ECB ... the electrical contractor ?

[ians]

If this is not true ... how is the responsible person on the site suppose to know if the person doing the work is qualified to do the they are doing on site?

As we are aware ... not all test reports and COC's are done by licensed inspectors ... is that ok ... can a labourer be dropped on site and do the repairs on a live installation and carry out the tests and provide the test results to the inspector who may not live in the same province?

Another scenario ... I go to site which is going to happen today ... my company will have a licensed registered person on site ... how do I identify the qualification of the other 3 companies will be working in the same building at the same time. What happens if they isolate part of the installation with a piece of tape over the breaker and I switch it on?

How do I know if the person has the qualification to understand correct isolation procedure? Surely the person working on what will be a live installation .. .will be at least a qualified electrician with some form of identification (as I have done ... forwarded a copy of my skill level .. the card we are issued by the DOL) ... because we are going to site to identify circuit ... which means the power will be switched on and off all day long.


It seems the more I think about this ... the more ridiculous this note sounds.

NOTE 1 In terms of South African legislation, the user or lessor is responsible for the safety of the electrical installation

[ians]

Here we are "registered electrical contractors" who carry out test reports and COC's ... on a public forum ... confused about the rules and regs ... Thank goodness they make the person who has no experience ... no idea about electrical installations ... responsible for the electrical installation.

[ians]

It seems it got even more interesting ... socket outlets connected back to back with units adjacent ... so if you switched off the units power next door the plugs didnt switch off.

It seems the landlord feels that he has a COC for the entire property which covers all the units ... each SUB DB and pre paid meter part of the entire building ... so from how I understand it ... he is responsible for the entire building ... the tenants are not responsible for the individual units.


Its seems skilled team member didnt know that when you have one building and turn it into a whole lot of smaller units ... you have to actually go to the plug open it and check if the plug is wired back to back.

Now we know why the pre paid was getting chewed up so quickly. It pays to have a smart meter.

[skatingsparks]

Honest answer.... Its because no one gives a rats arse as there are no consequences to doing a bad job.

Its like the whole country - fortunately most people are not psychopathic maniacs becuase if they were there ain't no one to stop them.

Nothing is policed or punished.

I mean the president pretty much stole the country and they can't even prosecute him.

A friend of mine caught his employees (well paid employees as well) stealing on CCTV camera. He suspeneded them, got taken to the CCMA and ended up having to pay them a few months salary because he didn't follow procedure.

They are handing out Wiremans license like ANC T-shirts at a voting rally because there is a drive to get more Artisans.

So the reason no one carries a identity card on site - no one cares. Simple as that.

Maybe on a big site you'll be mumbled through a no brainer induction and they will skim through a safety file but other than that.....

Nothing evolves here. Still doing the same trade test since fek knows when. Its so outdated.

Its like the indusrty is going to implode with these stupid high prices on materials, petrol and tools and then have poorly qualified people installing them with no come back if they just bodge it in.

Sorry, i'm in a cynical monday kind of day. Every Monday it gets harder to be motivated to do this kak.

I might make it until the end of this year but see me going beyond that. Not going to work like this for the rest fo my functional working life for peanuts.

[Derlyn]

Now we know why the pre paid was getting chewed up so quickly. It pays to have a smart meter.

Not the meter's fault. It was just measuring what was going through it.

Yep, installing sub meters can sometimes be a headache, ensuring that only the correct circuits go through it.
Most of the times it involves installing another sub DB for the meter.

Prepaid water meters can be even more difficult to install with back to back showers, hand basins and toilets.
The nice challenging one's are when all the plumbing is flush..... nothing surface ...... and you have to work out where the supply or supplies are.

That's why we not shy to charge.

Peace out ... Derek Stuart

[ians]

A smart meter just makes it possible to view a trend and logs everything ... you would be able to see when something is sucking power ... for example this problem with the plugs connected back to back ... if the customer had a smart meter ... they could see that everything was switched off and still sucking power and not a kwh or 2.

These other silly pre paid meters are like pre paid airtime you have not control of what is happening and when it is happening ... as sparks mentioned things are changing prices are booming ... people want to know what is consuming power and when.