Working on non compliant sites

[Isetech]

What do you do when you arrive on a site to do a silly little job like fit a fit a few solar panel, an inverter and a battery.

Knowing you have to issue a COC, well in theory you should, most customers would request one for the insurance company or if you doing the work in a complex, then the body corporate might insist.

But here's the cracker, why do people take the intitial COC as just a silly piece of paper not required until the property is sold?

DO you just take the intial COC with a pinch of salt and go full steam ahead, considering the property owner is the responsible person on the site, why should you bother if they can produce one or not?

I am at the point where like the proeprty owner, I dont really care if the initial COC is legit or not, its not actually my resposiblity, if pushed into a corner and forced to issue a supplimentary, I have leant not to even look at the initial, I just use the number for reference.

Why have I started doing this, because as I mentioned it not my resposiblity, the catch is once you read the intial and identify its not worth the paer it is printed, you should know better than to walk away. Once you go down that rabbit hole you are bound to end up the bad person or out of pocket.

Its not that simple, chances are the existing installation is just as non compliant as the COC issued. Chances are you going to run into non compliant issues while doing your job. This is why it is better to drop teams on site, they are there to do a job not check the workmanship or compliance of the installation, you trust your team enough that you dont even need to vist the site, this also seems to be a common practise as we found on a recent job.

A tip for people who dont visit or test sites where there teams have worked, at least get some pics, so that you dont make the ECA look bad, cost the property owner R5000 for an MIE to stand around to make sure that your teams fix the wiring hash that you signed off.


How do you deal with these non complaint sites, hit and run and just dont issue a supplimentary? This has been my approach for many years, the catch is when the customer sells the property, suddenly you become laible for "all" the non complaint issues , even if you just installed a socket outlet. They seem to feel you were the last person to work on the site, so now you ar eresposible for the entire installation.

Do you waste your time going down that rabbit, trying to do the "right" thing by reporting the non compliant issues?

Do you notifiy the customer of the non compliant stuff via email and keep walking ?

I have been fortunte in most cases, as I live and learn, sometimes it takes me a while to identify these cusoters and focus on servicing the customers who appreciate my efforts and allow me to do what I do best.

How do you deal with these issues?

[Dave A]

the catch is when the customer sells the property, suddenly you become laible for "all" the non complaint issues , even if you just installed a socket outlet. They seem to feel you were the last person to work on the site, so now you ar eresposible for the entire installation.

True this. This is the mindset of the client far too often.

Not sure the problem is limited to the client, either. Which makes this particular challenge a more important discussion than it might seem at first glance.

[Isetech]

If there is one thing I have learnt about COC/test reports. Many of the people issuing them , lack the knowledge and experience.

There should a minumum of 5 years hands on working experience before you even apply to become a sinlge phase tester or IE and 10 years to become an MIE. There should be timesheets recording the work done and time spent doing it and details of the registered person they are working with.

Single phase tester, IE's and MIE's should have to earn credits and be assesed at least once every 5 years. It will force people to keep updating the regs and filter out people not working in the environment they are certified to work.

[Derlyn]

Bring back inspectors.

[Isetech]

I always wondered why we had whiskey on site back in the day. I dont believe bringing back inspectors would be the solution.

We need to create a cloud base COC/test report system.

Random checks on COC/test reports.

Regular audits on inspectors.

A credit system where you have to earn your points to keep your license.

Instead of loosing your license if you dont work on a type of installation, you just need to make sure you have the credits indicating that you are up to date with the regs

Proper investigations when a complaint is lodged about an inspector.

Instead of a fine, suspend the inspectors license, after the third offence remove the license and ban the person for 5 years.

Is the AIA system working, you just need to follow social media groups to make your own decision.

Getting the regs right and basic guidelines in place would be a good start. It is difficult to enforce regualtions if we cant ge tthe regs up to date.

Bring back inspectors.

[Derlyn]

Single phase testers, IE's and ME's are not inspectors.

Inspectors are employed especially to check that the abovementioned abide by the regulations.

An IE connot also be the inspector and inspect his own work. That is what is known as a conflict of interest.

One can have as many cloud based things as you like, until peoples work is once again inspected, like it used to be, you fighting a losing battle.

[Isetech]

I do the test report and COC for all my work, what does that make me?

You are refering to the old council inspectors, they use to visit the site and do test inspection be fore the power was energised.

Single phase testers, IE's and ME's are not inspectors.

Inspectors are employed especially to check that the abovementioned abide by the regulations.

An IE connot also be the inspector and inspect his own work. That is what is known as a conflict of interest.

One can have as many cloud based things as you like, until peoples work is once again inspected, like it used to be, you fighting a losing battle.

[Derlyn]

Question. I do the test report and COC for all my work, what does that make me ?

Answer. Not an inspector. An inspector is the one who inspects your work.