36 DESIGN: DEAR MR PLUMBER
A standard is a design and construction guide
From time to time I go through the papers in my office and get rid of the‘ old stuff’. The only problem is that every time I do that, the very next day somebody asks me whether I have a copy of that specific paper.
By Vollie Brink, Pr Eng
Vollie Brink
Vollie Brink is one of the industry’ s longest serving wet service engineers. He continues to serve on SABS committees and has been involved in the Green Building Council Star rating system. Brink continues to consult for various organisations while enjoying a well-earned retirement.
I was cleaning out some of my old papers recently and found a copy of an old email from somebody( whom I regard as a technical friend) who had written this email to somebody at the SABS( whom I also regarded as a technical friend), and it was all about a technical matter that concerns all of us: SANS 2001-DP 9.
My friend complained that in this document the“ competent person” was indicated to be a Pr Eng or a Pr Tech Eng“ with suitable experience”, so he asked,“ What does this mean exactly?”, referring to the definition of the competent person.
He went on to question why the building inspector and the plumber are excluded from the definition and how this would affect the Certificate of Compliance( CoC) if the building inspector is not allowed or required to do the inspection.
These are all good questions and it is a concern that I raised in many meetings at the SABS. SANS 2001-DP9 and all the other DP documents related to DP 2001, which previously was SANS 1200, are construction work specifications and relate to civil engineering work. Most civil engineers were not happy with the changes and decided to continue using SANS 1200. At a meeting at the SABS, it was decided that the engineer can use any one of the two, or both.
In civil engineering, the“ competent person” can only be a registered engineer or registered technologist, and in the case of a civil engineering contract, the building inspector does not have a role to fulfil, except to ask the engineer for a CoC, if he or she so wishes.
The external building drainage on large projects are designed as a civil engineering project, and then SANS 2001( or the old SANS 1200) or any other suitable standard can be used. The design must be done by a competent engineer or technologist, while the work must be done by a civil contractor, who would employ plumbers and other competent technical tradespeople.
The challenge is the co-ordination between the external and internal design, and construction. In my opinion, it must be done by one responsible designer, but the work can be split. The problem is that the definition of a“ competent person” has been hanging in the air for years now and has not been addressed as was duly promised by a certain Mr Patterson, who had been contracted by the SABS at the time.
The promise was that if the technical committee members agree that the revised documents are to be released for publication“ as is”, then immediately thereafter the issue of the competent person would be addressed and rectified. Needless to say, this promise was never kept.
It must be noted that these documents are only standards and not compulsory regulation documents. A standard is only compulsory if it has been promulgated specifically as regulation and compulsory.
Because these documents are only standards for civil works, it is the responsibility of the design engineer to certify satisfaction with the work and to do the inspections, which involve much more than the inspections of the National Building Regulations( NBR).
It must be noted that nothing is stopping a plumber from using SANS 2001 or SANS 1200, or any of the DP documents, for the drainage and water of a smaller project that does not warrant a civil contractor or an engineer. But then it becomes relevant under the NBR, in which case the building inspector must do the inspections and then sign off on the work. I am just not satisfied with the quality and type of inspections and the results. The basic inspection of a drainage installation in SANS 10400-P consists of an open-
January 2018 Volume 23 I Number 11 www. plumbingafrica. co. za