Associations
High road, low road, no road – where is the SABS going and how do we cope?
In June 2014, the SABS suddenly made a very principled decision. It decreed that Partial Testing, a facility whereby a manufacturer could ask the SABS to test its product against only a section of a national standard, would no longer be permitted.
61
By
Ken Patrick, chair of the Polymer Hot and Cold Technology Association
At face value, this might appear to make sense. Certain unscrupulous manufacturers / distributors had been using such Partial Testing reports to infer full SABS approval to National Standards, and this should never be allowed. However, given that for the past decade, industry had begged the SABS to put a bold“ Partial Test Report” watermark on such reports, this sudden change in policy was a rather serious overreaction to a long-standing problem, to which there were far simpler solutions. Also, bear in mind that developmental testing will always be required when creating or adapting new products. Think about it, you don’ t need to pay for impact testing when trying to determine fire resistance on different materials, but you still want a report on which to base your future design.
Figure 1: Example of an AENOR Product Certificate.
Added to this problem, however, was the worst overreaction by far: the SABS decreed that full testing for all plastic piping systems would be required from now on, that is, every aspect of the product must be tested, right down to material type tests. It needs to be stated here that manufacturers have never, anywhere in the world, been asked to have these tests performed. The material suppliers to these manufacturers have such tests done at independent laboratories, and these certified results are then used by the relevant manufacturers towards its product certification.
As part of the World Trade Organisation’ s efforts to reduce technical barriers to trade, these tests are performed at independent laboratories, which are themselves certified as part of an ILAC( International Laboratory Accreditation Cooperation) MRA( Mutual Recognition Agreement). Such test results are then used globally towards national product certification, with local testing usually performed simply to ensure that performance criteria are in line with international evidence. Bear in mind that some product performance tests last for up to a year, thus local representative testing is usually undertaken towards local certification.
But the SABS says it is not obliged to accept such test results and insist on having them done again, despite not having the equipment or personnel to perform many of these tests. In South Africa, the dti are signatories to the ILAC agreement, and the SABS falls under the control of the dti— go figure!
So where does this leave the South African market?
New certificates – same standards When this impasse first happened, various bodies( it didn’ t just affect hot water piping) tried to reason with the SABS. That didn’ t work, so alternative solutions were sought. The Polymer Hot and Cold Technology Association( PHACT) then liaised with two companies, SATAS( South African Technical Auditing Services) and AENOR( European based certification body similar to the SABS). Both SATAS and AENOR now have accreditation to offer certification to South African National Standards( SANS) Continued on page 63 >> www. plumbingafrica. co. za February 2017 Volume 22 I Number 12