Despite the expectation that completing a Certificate of Compliance (CoC) correctly would be the forté of any contractor, most of the enquiries received at the ECA revolve around the correct completion of CoCs.
The ECA presents a number of CoC courses every year and it is imperative that contractors attend these courses at least bi-annually to stay abreast of any new developments.
What is the correct way to complete the “certificate-part” of the CoC?
This is the first page of the combination CoC and test report, available from the ECA, and is the legal part as prescribed in Annexure 1 of the Electrical Installation Regulations of 2009 (EIR).
General: Certificate type and Supplement number
Certificate number
Provide the unique number, allocated by the DoL and pre-printed on the form in red ink.
Certificate type
Indicate whether this CoC is:
Identification of the relevant electrical installation
The purpose of this section is to positively identify the installation for which this CoC is issued, and to link them together forever.
Declaration by the Registered Person
Tip: This is information from documents that have your photograph on them.
This portion is for completion by the person responsible for the testing and inspection of the electrical installation to clarify what is being certified (he or she may be prosecuted for false declarations).
Registered person registration number
This used to be an “accreditation number” and, before that, the “wireman’s licence”.
Date of registration as registered person
Date of registration as a master installation electrician, installation electrician or electrical tester for single phase.
Type of registration
Tick as appropriate.
Signature
The signature of the registered (accredited) person to confirm the declarations above, and to accept responsibility for the accuracy of the test and inspection.
Date
The date of affixing the signature.
Personal contact details
The registered personal contact details (for use even if they change employers).
Declaration by the electrical contractor
Tip: This is information from documents without your photograph on them.
Many contractors argue that they need not complete this section when certifying an existing installation as the installation was not done by them.
They are wrong; the “electrical installation” referred to here is the work done when issuing the CoC, which is the test and inspection and not any previous installation work done by others in the past.
It must therefore be completed to verify that the tests and inspections as well as the completion of the CoC and test report were all done correctly, and that the company takes responsibility for them (there are some exemptions, which are dealt with in this article).
This portion is for completion by the contractor (the business) and for capturing the business’ information.
Insert the full names of the director, owner, manager or contact person at the electrical contracting business (not necessarily the registered or accredited person), and their ID number.
Electrical contractor registration number
Enter the DoL registration number of the business, for example, GN 0123.
Date of registration
The date of the latest registration or last renewal with the DoL. It is recommended to add the expiry date as well.
Signature
Provide the signature of the director, owner, manager or contact person at the electrical contracting business to confirm the declaration and to indicate the business’ acceptance of its responsibility for the installation works, as well as the cost of any remedial work that may be required.
Date
Provide the date of affixing the signature.
Contact details
Provide all the business’ contact details as required.
Recipient name
This is a receipt from the client to prove delivery. Failure to have this completed will not necessarily render the certificate invalid.
Note that, in instances where there is no contractor-client relationship, for instance where the CoC is issued by an employee of a company or institution for work done on its own installation and there is no contract agreement but, for example, salary paid, this section (“Declaration by Contractor”) is not applicable. It can be crossed out, or all the allotted spaces marked “N/A”.
The same will apply in cases where a registered person certifies work on their own property.
Cecil Lancaster, ECA regional director, Bosveld