DOL and AIA

[Isetech]

Please help me understand how this works.

As the responsible person/user for the elctrical installation on my property, I get a registered electrical contractor who has a registered IE or MIE who are both required by law to be "approved" by the DOL that they are competent to design, over see or install, test and issue a COC/test report (which I assume is a legal and binding document) indicating that installation is reasonably safe, to install a solar installation on my property.

The electrical contractor comes highly recommended on social media, I pay full price (between R200 and 250 000.00), so its not like I got a green card, backyard or cardboard installer to do the job.

Being the responsible person, I would assume that I have taken reasonable steps to ensure I get a reasonably safe installation, right ?

6 months later I require a few additional electrical points installed on the property, I get another registered elctrical contractor to add a few plug points.

This electrical contractor, requests a copy of the initial COC prior to starting the project, so that they can confirm the electrical installation is reasonably safe for their staff to work on site.

Once their work is complete, they will add the initial COC number to their supplementary COC.

However it turns out it is not that simple, the electrical contractor who is going to do the additions, Identifies that the initial COC is not valid.

Who do you call?

This is where the fight starts.

DO I call the DOL ?

Do I have to pay the DOL to investigate the COC issued by the company/person they approved ?

Some say I must call the AIA because they have been appointed by the DOL to check non compliant installations.

Why would I have to pay the AIA which is a private company who I assume are not part of the DOL ?

As the responsible person I did the right thing, yet now I have to pay more money for an electrical installation which should have been done correctly the first time.

Surely the DOL should be responsible for the investigation into the installation done by the contractors they approved ? If they are found to have been negligent, they should open a case and charge the the contractor for issuing a document that I was told is suppose to be a legal document.

Lets go back to the purchase of my property, is the sale agreement not a legal document, which would have my COC (a legal document attached) attached, which is why it had to be done through an attorney ?

What am I missing?

[GCE]

You missing the fact that DOL, as a government department, does not have the capacity or the will to attend to matters that are meant to be dealt with, by them according to the OHSA

[Isetech]

So why are we bothering with all these silly rules, regulations and COC's ?

I have about 15 COC's to issue for solar installation, I am thinking it to do as south africans do in south africa, fill out the the property details and copy and paste all the test results, save a lot of time and money.

I think to myself who is going to identify that all the COC's are exactly the same, they are all going to different sites, they will all have test results within the limits, happy days.

At least the COC is filled out correctly, so if someone like myself opens the document on the PC the test results are within the expected ranges, it filled out with the correct details, I am happy and everyone else will be happy.

The customer doesn't have a clue, they have no idea what test the results are suppose to be, they just want the document for insurance purposes.

The insurance company doesn't care if the COC is valid or not, like the customer they just want the document.

If you selling a property, the attorney doesn't care they also just want the document.

Moral the story, at least learn to fill out the document correctly and everyone is happy

Who cares if the installation is actually reasonably safe, the customer is the responsible person, its not the electrical contractors problem.

[Isetech]

Which customer is going to be that stupid to actually call the AIA,

pay again for the AIA to check the installation that they have already paid in full,

then take the list of so called non compliant items, get quotes from another electrical contractor who will charge them again to fix all the items listed.

Unfortunately there are these people amongst us

I suppose it creates employment in the elctrical industry, just because the customers are so gullible, and nobody is prepared to challenge the electrical industry why not ride them we can

[GCE]

So why are we bothering with all these silly rules, regulations and COC's ?

.

Because if you don't do the job correctly and something does happen it may just be that time that everybody responds , like they should every time, and you end up losing a license and lively hood
Because it is the correct way to work if you tend being around long term

[GCE]

Which customer is going to be that stupid to actually call the AIA,

pay again for the AIA to check the installation that they have already paid in full,

then take the list of so called non compliant items, get quotes from another electrical contractor who will charge them again to fix all the items listed.

Unfortunately there are these people amongst us

I suppose it creates employment in the elctrical industry, just because the customers are so gullible, and nobody is prepared to challenge the electrical industry why not ride them we can

In the cases that I am aware of , where an AIA was called out , the contractor that was taken to task had to pay the AIA and rectify that faults and pay for a return trip for the AIA , It cost the contractor a whole lot extra which comes back to answer your previous question

So why are we bothering with all these silly rules, regulations and COC's

[Isetech]

If you get caught, like I a have said in the past, its a numbers game, you do 350 installation and get caught for 1, no big deal. You really have to mess up to get caught, starting with the document, fill out the document correctly and you are 90% home free

These challenges that we experience, always start with the document, like the site we are dealing with at the moment, there are 2 COC's, the initial and the other one (the problem)

The initial is filled out correctly, with all the information required, section 3 is completed, is actually correct, I couldn't tell you, just the layout, the information details on the document would give no reason to question it.

The solar one, I didn't even get past page 1 and any fool could see that the registered person has no idea what he is doing, crossing out section and writing N/A well that was the giveaway, then when I saw "no tester" the sad part, he is an IE and not just a single phase tester, you would think he should know better. I would bet that he has not even visited the site, if he did he should take notes of the installation and labeling.

I did a bit of research into the company who did the installation (not the same as the one who signed the COC), they have done a lot of installations around our area, it could explain why they have not returned to our site yet. I thinking about putting a notice out for people who used this company to forward a copy of their COC to me so that I can check if they need to get them to fix the non compliant items and issue a valid COC.

If you have a COC that has section 3 crossed out with N/A or "no tester", I would strongly suggest you post a copy of it on this forum, just remember to cross out the names addresses and ID numbers etc and document number, just post the test report, or post it on one of the user groups, there are more installers stalking those groups than users, and boy they be quick to point if your installation is correct or the COC is valid.

By the way, it is your responsibility to keep the original document, if you dont have a copy, best you get one.

In the cases that I am aware of , where an AIA was called out , the contractor that was taken to task had to pay the AIA and rectify that faults and pay for a return trip for the AIA , It cost the contractor a whole lot extra which comes back to answer your previous question

[Aumy]

Keeping your documents in order is key, and sharing experiences on forums can be helpful for everyone.