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DESIGN : DEAR MR PLUMBER
We should all think differently – together !
By
Vollie Brink
We have gone through 2020 and have now entered 2021 – we ’ ve made it and life goes on .
Vollie Brink is one of the industry ’ s longest-serving wet services engineers . He continues to serve on SABS committees and has been involved in the Green Building Council ’ s Green Star rating system . Brink continues to consult for various organisations while enjoying a wellearned retirement .
We have started with the building water services part of SANS10400 and the revision of SANS10400-P and I hope with all my heart that we will end 2021 with two new documents .
I have realised , once again , that the various contributors who come from different backgrounds ‘ think ’ differently . The technician ‘ thinks ’ differently from how the engineer ‘ thinks ’ – and I suspect that this is due to their education and their objectives .
The ‘ thinking ’ and ‘ education ’ of the technician is to work according to a set of values and ‘ norms ’ and standards , and how to strictly apply these to render a specific outcome . The technician is not allowed to work out of these fixed parameters .
The engineer is educated to pursue unique solutions for problems based on natural phenomena and theory , and not just by applying standard specific rules .
If the engineer is not allowed to apply his / her theoretical and scientific knowledge , then engineering will stagnate and eventually , there will be no progress and engineering will die .
It is difficult to match the thinking processes to reach a common conclusion and outcome if the technician and the engineer are sitting around the table to develop a standard such as the National Building Regulations ( NBR ). The technician will want to have specific rules and regulations and the ‘ thou shall ’ so that you ‘ cannot go wrong ’, such as the deem-to-satisfy-rules , while the engineer wants to be allowed to use basic scientific principles to calculate a ‘ fitfor-purpose-solution ’.
You cannot solve all engineering problems with deem-tosatisfy-rules and therefore we need the Rational Design and allow for innovation .
The birth and the development of the NBR were one big step forward and away from all the local building regulations of the various municipalities , cities and towns and various governmental entities and many other bodies , largely based on their personal likes and dislikes .
In the past you had to study the various building regulations of the towns or ruling bodies where the project will be built . There was one little town where you were not allowed to crack a whip in the main street , and this was a building regulation . Another town had a building regulation that did not allow rubber-p-traps , and there were many other peculiar building regulations .
Some municipalities kept their peculiar rules and stuck it in their by-laws , and this is still happening today . And you cannot argue against it due to the ‘ power of the rubber stamp ’.
To bring all this various thinking and fixed ideas into a set of deem-to-satisfy-rules that satisfies everyone ’ s ‘ thinking ’ is a very difficult task .
I believe that the technician and the engineer must think differently and allow each other ‘ space ’ to be different , as we need the fixed solutions . But we also need the ‘ thinkers ’ to be open to new innovation , so that we do not stagnate .
We need both kinds of thinkers , and both need to respect one another .
Wishing you a happy prosperous 2021 ! PA
“ You cannot solve all engineering problems with deem-to-satisfyrules and therefore we need the Rational Design and allow for innovation .”
www . plumbingafrica . co . za @ plumbingonline @ plumbingonline @ PlumbingAfricaOnline January 2021 Volume 26 I Number 11