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