PERSONALITY PROFILE
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ensuring the design is capable of being economically
manufactured,” says Strauss.
From SABS to beyond
“I was thrust in the deep end over the course of the
six years I was there. By that stage I had already
had quite some experience with the plumbing side
although it wasn’t a focus at SABS, when at this
time I was approached by SABS to return. At that
time, I was doing an extraordinary amount of daily
commuting, and decided to accept the offer. I still
had fond memories at SABS, and it was the right
opportunity for the time as I now had a view of
testing and certification from all sides. In 2009 I
was appointed to manage the SABS plumbing test
laboratory.”
“The challenge was serving customers who still
expected to be dealt with in the old way of a
tax-funded public service, but which was actually
under a new commercial system which was not
well understood. It was now business orientated.
However, the work remained the same and I
continued to enjoy problem solving in the laboratory
and finding equipment to test materials. We were
involved in a lot of standards development where
we had to assess and amend various standards to
make them more practical, for instance, the heat
pump standard where we assisted with writing the
standard from beginning to end. This required getting
the involvement of the industry as to what should go
into the standard and making sure it could practically
be applied.
“A major part of the process at SABS was mentoring
of people. We had to groom test officers and develop
them into accepting evidence-based facts only and
not bow to public opinion. This is vital in testing – you
have to trust the results and not be swayed.” While
outright bribery is not common, he says, one can
be compromised through regular interaction with
customers. It is one of the reasons for separating test
staff from the customers.
“The plumbing industry has always stood out for
me as an industry that was more proactive than
others. When at SABS I was regularly amazed at the
initiative of the industry compared to other industries
I was involved in. At that time, what became SA
Watermark was evolving within IOPSA on behalf of
the entire plumbing industry, and when they offered
me the position, I was happy to be even more closely
involved in what is an exciting industry,” says Strauss.
This was a more entrepreneurial venture for Strauss,
where he was responsible for growing and promoting
SA Watermark as a non-profit organisation that is
also a financially sustainable business.
November 2019 Volume 25 I Number 9
He describes it as a challenging environment, “and a
lot of fun.” By now, there had been an organisational
change at SABS, one which Strauss says was
“very needed” with the separation of testing,
certification and regulation in 2000. Whereas SABS
had previously been solely responsible for all that,
and was government funded, now the government
introduced the concept of ‘user pays’ in which test
laboratories had to become financially viable.
Herman Strauss, executive director of SA Watermark.
“It’s exciting to be part of this initiative for its potential
impact on the plumbing industry, which had become
sensitised to the fact that it was having trouble
demonstrating its products were compliant. Many had
lost their SABS certification which became time-expired
and at that stage SABS was still the only service
provider.” IOPSA led a brain-storming session of major
players in the industry, from which originated the idea
through which various iterations ultimately became
SA Watermark.”
A project management team initially led the process and
raised seed capital from various plumbing companies.
From this developed a business model and plan for
what was to be a non-profit company known as SA
Independent Auditing Service, with SA Watermark a trade
name. At this point, Strauss was approached.
“The Watermark doesn’t test or certify at all – it’s a
verification process. We take a test report relating to a
specific product, compare it to the actual product and
confirm the relevance and authenticity of the report. PA
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