September 12th, 2018, Published in Articles: Vector

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:

• A new CoC for this installation: Tick “Initial Certificate”, indicating that this CoC constitutes the complete and whole document, or
• An additional CoC to an existing one: Tick “Supplementary Certificate”, which indicates that this is a partial document only, and that it must be read together with an “Initial Certificate” and possibly other “Supplementary Certificates” for it to be valid.
• If this is an initial CoC, enter “N/A” in all three spaces on the next line, or
• If this CoC is supplementary, enter the number (1st, 2nd, 3rd etc.), and the number and date of issue of the initial certificate.

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.

• Ensure that the address on the left-hand part is complete and correct. If a formal address is not available, information such as “GPS Coordinates”, “Pole number” or “Erf/Lot number” can be used instead.
• It is not crucial in this section that all fields such as “GPS Coordinates”, “Pole number” or “Lot number” be completed. Where such information is available, it can only be advantageous to include it.
• However, there must be sufficient information in this section to ensure that the CoC is positively linked to this installation only.
• In the interest of completeness, enter “N/A” in any spaces that may be irrelevant. Spaces left blank give the impression that the certificate is incomplete.

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).

• Full names of registered (accredited) person, as they appear on their documentation, and their identity number.
• Insert a tick as applicable in the allocated space next to “EIR 9(2)” for:
• A new installation, done under his own general control, that it complies, or
• An existing installation, that it complies with the general safety principles, or
• A combination of these.

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