Anyone?
Anyone?
Greetings
In the OHS act Section 7 under electrical installation regulations
SeanM (15-Nov-19)
Hi, the only mention of validity is for change of ownership. as for your question I assume it refers to the fact that how long are you responsible for the installation? Well the answer is straight forward as stipulated in OHS. You as the registered person stays responsible for the installation until something is change or added without a supplement COC. BUT you are only responsible for the following - INSPECT, TEST, VERIFY and CERTIFY so if this was done correctly on the day of your site visit you will be liable to proof that for as long as there is a installation and nothing has changed as mentioned above.
On the other hand as stated by OHS, the responsibility of the user or lessor is the SAFETY, SAFE USE and MAINTENANCE of the installation.
Hope this help.
Thanks @W-TDMI, the info is very valuable. I am actually the person to check if the CoC is valid and completed correctly for the site before I sign off the completed site.
Of interest to you is that the supplier of the installation remains liable for the installation under the CPA Section 61.
The supplier is only responsible up to the point of supply (Normally metering) from there its the user or lessor that is responsible for the Safety, safe use and maintenance. The registered person (electrician) is responsible for the Inspection, Testing , Verification and Certification to confirm that People animals and property is protected under NORMAL and FAULT conditions and to gather evidence for future reference.
Pre 1992 the supplier still had a obligation to test and confirm that the installation is safe, that has changed in the format as above. These day they just require the COC to switch on, the substance of the COC`s is not even confirmed.........scary out there, but its happening.
I think there is a bit of confusion about the word supplier. In terms of the Consumer Protection Act, the supplier is the entity that supplied the product. In an electrical installation the product is regarded as being the complete installation from the electrical grid supplier to the plug outlets etc. Food for thought when you do the job and deliver a product. The consumer is now protected ...
Talking about substance of CoC's. I celebrated a bit some months ago as I received the first ever valid electrical CoC in many many many years. I could not believe my eyes ... I am not going to give out a list of "loopholes" the guys are using to make the CoC appear valid to the uninformed but it is quite interesting.
The consumer is now protected ..
I got a surprise call last week from a customer where I done a COC just over 5 years ago. They are auditing there COC’s and picked up small problems on the COC that I issued in 2014. They are now requesting the re-issue of a corrected copy of the COC. I am now in the process of the re-issue. This is a first time for me.
“ I am now in the process of the re-issue.”
If nothing at the installation changed and it is still the same owner. Would any regulations be contravened by re-issuing a new copy?
The problem you have is you need to prove nothing changed in the 5 years. To what are you going to compare it so that you can prove nothing has changed? And more importantly what in the regulations have changed that the installation now need to comply with? Simple example is that the geyser must now be on E/L. So unless these items are changed to meet with the new regulations, you cannot issue a valid CoC today.
The conundrum you are sitting with is that only the Chief Inspector may issue a copy of a valid CoC. You cannot do so. But alas your CoC as issued is not valid so the Chief Inspector will not issue a duplicate. So basically you will need to check and test everything again (refer to the above) and issue a new CoC. But then you acknowledge you issued an invalid CoC five years ago and contravened section 9 of the OSHA ...
This is exactly the problem I meet almost everyday of my working life and it is not limited to electrical installations. You do not want to go down the road of the new energy requirements of a building that needs to be met once something is changed.
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