The Electrical Contractors’ Association (South Africa), or ECA(SA), says it is “extremely concerned” by what it perceives as a “lack of interest” by the Department of Labour (DoL) in managing and monitoring the electrical contracting industry.

In September last year, the DoL took over the yearly registration of electrical contractors from the Electrical Contracting Board of South Africa (ECB), which had been mandated to carry out this function on behalf of the DoL chief inspector since 1993.

The ECA(SA) claimed that, since this transition, it had received numerous complaints from electrical contractors about the registration process at several DoL provincial offices.

“It is our intention today to make public what is going on in the industry and outline why we are concerned about the lack of policing and controls. Unless the DoL takes its duties seriously, there will be a rapid deterioration of standards and the safety and welfare of people and properties will be compromised,” ECA(SA) president Dirk Engelbrecht told a media briefing on Tuesday.

He asserted that there was a “total lack of policing” in the industry, particularly with regard to unregistered electrical contractors, substandard and hazardous workmanship and the issuance of invalid compliance and test reports by certain contractors.

The association further claimed that the provincial DoL offices were allowing applicants to register for up to three years at a time, which was in contravention of Regulation 6(2) of the Electrical Installation Regulations (EIR), which prescribed that contractors re-register on a yearly basis.

“We are puzzled as to why this requirement is being ignored and have asked the department what control it would have should a firm’s licenced electrician die, resign or retire, which would enable it to continue operating for an extended period of time without a registered person in its full-time employ,” commented Engelbrecht.

The association has also requested further clarification about the use of approved inspection authorities (AIAs) by the department, and noted that, while it had previously informed the DoL of its support for AIAs, it was concerned around whether or not these had been accredited by the South African National Accreditation System (Sanas).

The ECA(SA) further requested clarity on how many of the AIAs had been approved by the department in terms of regulation 3(1) of the EIR, as well as exactly who the AIAs were, as this remained vague.

“We also wish to establish whether individual AIAs are limited by their registration as ‘registered persons’. For example, can an AIA with only an installation electrician in its employ inspect, test and pass comment on installations in locations where only master electricians are authorised to carry out such work,” he asserted.

Central to improving the supervision of the industry, the ECA(SA) noted, was allowing the association, and other interested parties, access to the national department-managed database that carried the names of all adequately licensed and registered electricians.

The ECA(SA) said it received regular enquiries from municipalities, the National Bargaining Council for the Electrical Industry, estate agents and the general public as to whether certain businesses or individuals were adequately registered.

While the association had had access to the database during the 20-year tenure of the ECB, this was revoked once duties were taken over by the DoL.

However, DoL chief inspector Thobile Lamati said he had not received a request by the ECA(SA) for access to the database, adding that the association should contact the department directly should it require access to this information.

“It is not their database, so why should they have full access to it? If they are an association, it means that the registered electrical contractors are their constituents, so they should have a database of their own,” he told Engineering News Online on Tuesday.

While conceding that there had been some “teething problems” with the registration process of contractors following the transition from the ECB to the DoL, he was adamant that these were not as critical as made out by the ECA(SA).

“Once the department had taken over the registration responsibilities from the ECB, we met with various contractors in all provinces to discuss potential registration challenges. While they did mention some problems with registration, none of these could be considered fundamental and we are on our way to resolving these. The process, as a whole, is working,” Lamati commented.

In response to assertions that the department was not adequately monitoring industry players, he emphasised that, as all registered electrical contractors were independent businesses people, they were allowed to operate and manage themselves, as long as this was done in compliance with national regulations.

“Our responsibility is to regulate the industry, certify that all electrical installations comply with the law and ensure that anyone who participates or works in the industry is registered with the DoL. This is the extent of our responsibility as a department,” he said.

Lamati was also adamant that no contractor had been registered for longer than a year, as prescribed by relevant legislation.

“This is simply not true,” he said.

While he could not immediately elucidate on the number of AIAs currently appointed by the department, Lamati noted that the department would, by mid-May, have published the list of AIAs, as the DoL was currently waiting for certain AIAs to finalise their accreditation with Sanas.