42
BUSINESS AND TRAINING
The independence of the
SA Watermark
By Herman Strauss
The Competition Commission recently found in favour of the
SA Watermark after the independence of the SA Watermark was
questioned, and in that, the Competition Commission
confirmed the value of this system for consumers.
Herman Strauss has been
involved with product
development and the
testing and certification of
products for over 25 years.
Part of his career centred
around the need to ensure
that products comply to
local and international
standards. As senior
manager at the SABS
he was responsible for
managing various testing
laboratories including
plumbing, automotive and
electrical laboratories.
He also worked for BMW,
Electrolux and Jetmaster.
He has served on a
variety of national and
international standards
development committees
in the fields of plumbing,
gas, energy, filtration,
automotive and more.
Let’s take a moment to reflect on what this
means for the industry:
We need to start at the beginning; When the plumbing
industry got together and decided to establish the SA
Watermark, the goal was to encourage compliance
to the national standards and to create an inclusive
environment where everybody will have fair access to
show that their products comply.
In order to achieve this, the SA Watermark had to be
independent, free from political, financial or any
other influences.
Secondly, it was a requirement that the SA Watermark
should operate as cost-effectively as possible and
should not require any unnecessary duplication of
work or fees.
It is common knowledge by now that the SA
Watermark is a register of plumbing components
that complies to South African National Standards
(SANS). In this article, we will not dwell on the details
of how the SA Watermark functions. If you are unsure
of anything, the website www.sawatermark.co.za
provides all the answers.
www.plumbingafrica.co.za
Today Strauss is an
independent consultant
with Jackstra Solutions
– fulfilling various roles
within the plumbing
industry. Among various
roles he is the executive
director of the South
African Independent
Auditing services, a non-
profit organisation that
promotes compliance to
standards, and manages
the South African
Watermark.
@plumbingonline
@plumbingonline
@PlumbingAfricaOnline
January 2020 Volume 25 I Number 11