72
INDUSTRY MATTERS
Let SANS 721
be a lesson
Whilst the issue of SANS 721 in particular was a thorn in the side
of all parties due to arbitrary decisions being made by the SABS,
compounded by poor behaviour of a certain party and ‘interference’
by the parent body of the SABS, SANS 721 should provide the ideal
case study on how not to go about drawing up a standard.
By Rory Macnamara
The story ran over a number of years, so we will attend
to the primary issues of what went wrong in very broad
terms and how the standard allowed product into the
market that did not provide the quality that is expected
in its application — a sacrifice on the altar of profit at
the expense of the consumer!
Rory Macnamara
of Plumbing Africa.
Rudeness, bullying, and disregard for technical
committees (industry members who give of their time
freely and willingly) and their purpose, and the exclusion of
essential official bodies and individuals whose experience
outnumbered the entire committee put together, were just
part of what occurred during this time.
The failure of SANS 721, in summary, was:
• Lack of quality and improvement of quality in the
products.
• Disregard for the safety and the health of our
people and environment — a fundamental
requirement of a standard, particularly a
compulsory one.
• Disregard for the inputs of technically qualified
persons and groups.
• Disregard for the international standards that had
shown the need for a particular process to take place.
• Discounting, in the main, public comments.
• Imbalance of representation and lack of subject
matter experts.
• Slowness in tackling the independent assessor’s
report.
(due to the fact that the product crossed a number
of technical committees and groups). This shows
the undue influence and questionable tactics
employed by some to achieve the publication of this
‘political standard’.
Even the Competition Commission has eased off
on the complaint of big business not allowing small
business entry into the market, simply because the
complaint was unjustified and without merit. We await
confirmation that this matter has been struck off so to
speak. We know that the dti family of companies is not
great when it comes to responses!
No one will stop another from participating in an industry,
provided they are all on the same level and not driven by
profits at the expense of the consumer.
The SABS has a great deal of fence mending to do in the
plumbing sector as the plumbing technical committee
was treated shoddily and humiliated by the actions of a
few, and sadly, the dti needs to do this as well, as they
were a part of the problem.
Perhaps going back to the raison d’état of the SABS is a
good start — standards, voluntary or made compulsory
by a regulation and an Act of parliament, are done for the
sole purpose of protecting the safety and the health of
the consumer and the environment.
When questioned about the progress of innovation,
Plumbing Africa received a deathly no response! Will there be consequences for the time that this
standard was in place? Plumbing Africa certainly hopes
so and the consumer deserves such retribution.
These were just some of the issues that were,
simply put, wrong in this case. Another mind-boggling
factor was that four technical committees were in
agreement that this standard should not go forward Never, never again should such a standard be placed in
the market and individuals be subjected to abuse and
attack by a few who cared nothing for the fundamental
reason for a standard. PA
February 2019 Volume 24 I Number 12
www.plumbingafrica.co.za