50
COMPLIANCE
Plumbing Africa accompanies
IOPSA compliance officer on
site visits
By Eamonn Ryan | All images by Eamonn Ryan
Plumbing Africa accompanied IOPSA compliance
officer Khethiwe (Kate) Shabangu to verify the CoC
on two installations in September, at Nahoon Street
and Orange Street, both in Brackendowns, Alberton.
Shabangu is part of the Compliance Audit office at IOPSA
established last year. Following an intensive three-month
period of training at IOPSA with technical manager Steve
van Zyl, she took up her current post as compliance
auditor. This training covered SANS 10252 part 1 and
SANS 10254 in depth.
“Every week we get a number of audits to perform. We
inform the plumbing company that their CoC (certificate
of compliance) has been randomly selected for an audit.
Either the company itself, or ourselves, will then make an
appointment to visit the client’s premises to inspect the
job, typically a geyser.”
She performs the inspection in the roof, takes photos of
the installation and makes her report. “If it is a ‘fail’, the
plumber can fix the error then and there, or alternatively
come back within five working days to correct it.
Sometimes, I attend the site alone without the plumber, but
the process remains the same,” says Shabangu.
Handling of such installation errors is an almost daily event,
she explains. “But when you inspect and correct the same
plumber over and over, they get better. It is an educational
process.”
The kinds of errors are:
• lack of holderbat support for the geyser’s pipe works;
IOPSA compliance officer, Khethiwe (Kate) Shabangu, preparing for a verification.
www.plumbingafrica.co.za
@plumbingonline
@plumbingonline
• the timber support for the geyser is not the required
standard;
@PlumbingAfricaOnline
November 2019 Volume 25 I Number 9