Ignorance can be deadly!
A Safehouse guide to help avoid the purchase and use of sub-standard, dangerous electrical products and services:
• Buy brands you know and can trust.
• Buy from reputable distributors and outlets. • Beware of copies of prominent brands.
• Be suspicious of prices substantially lower than for other, similar products
or services on offer.
• Try to make contact with the seller’s supplier and judge responses
critically.
• Be suspicious of lack of information on or with the product packaging and on the product itself. Specifications require certain minimum markings and packaging should describe the electrical capacities and the correct application of the product. Look out for contradictions between data provided e.g. different voltage ratings for the same product.
• If the purchase warrants it, ask the supplier for references to other users –
and make the effort to contact them.
• When dealing with an electrical contractor, ask for proof of registration and about its membership of the ECA (Electrical Contractors Association). Call the ECA in your region to check credentials. • Be critical of a suspect installation or a Certificate of Compliance (COC)
that is issued too easily.
• Ask the supplier to prove compliance with regulations: At the very least a National Regulator for Compulsory Specifications (NRCS) approval in the form of a Letter of Authority (LOA) for the products used which are subject to regulation (See the Safehouse guide for a list of these products).
• Look for certification marks such as SABS, VDE and UL. (Note that the
SABS mark is not necessarily a substitute for the LOA).
• Beware of fraudulent use of well-known certification emblems, such as the
SABS mark.
•A “CE” mark is not proof of independent testing and not necessarily proof of conformity.
• Report any electrical product failure to the dealer, manufacturer, the NRCS and, if applicable, the National Consumer Commission.
• If in doubt, check with the Safehouse Association for information it may
possibly have to help you.