22 Jun 2004 : CPMA will upgrade standards
BECAUSE of the importance they place on quality standards and safety in their industry, a group of Cape manufacturers of electrical control panels, or distribution boards, recently formed the Cape Panel Manufacturers Association (CPMA).

The association held a Breakfast Launch at the River Club in Mowbray Cape Town on May 6 2004, attended by 140 guests including representatives of major end user companies, consulting engineers, insurers, contractors, NGO’s and other organisations. The size of the attendance, and the general interest shown across the board in the formation of such an association, was highly encouraging, says CPMA chairman Marc Moreau.

The aim of the association, Moreau says, is to ensure that high standards prevail throughout the industry, and that end users can have confidence in the quality and safety they will get when dealing with CPMA member companies.

The association, which is the first representative body of electrical panel manufacturers in South Africa, already has a core membership of 30 companies, and the expectation is that they could reach 50 members by the end of this year.

There are already excellent companies in the Cape providing quality panels, there are others who are not yet meeting acceptable standards, and customers have no way of knowing this in advance, Moreau points out. When one company supplies an end user with sub-standard equipment - and it usually takes some time before this comes to light - the whole industry gets a bad name.

There is nothing to prevent someone without any technical qualifications or pretensions to electrical skill or know-how from setting up as an electrical panel manufacturer - and some are doing so,” he says.

It is, in fact, exactly the type of situation the CPMA, through the understanding, training and the establishing of proper technical standards and a code of professional conduct for its members, is hoping to avoid in the future.

“In the past there has been general regulations governing such matters as occupational health and safety (OHS Act), the Electrical Installation Regulation (EIR), the Electrical Machinery Regulation (EMR). There are now specific technical standards for panel manufacturers which are legally enforceable.

The firm intention of the CPMA members is to bring order to their profession - but Moreau emphasises that it is NOT a witchhunt. The aim is not to drive people out of the business, but to help them to come up to standard. After all, it is a learning curve, and upgrading must be introduced in a practical and economic way, taking account of African conditions but without compromising on safety and compliance to the rule of law.

Moreau has been for some years a member of a technical working group at the SABS, and the aim is to put a standard document forward to the industry which would be a hand over document on the electrical control panel from the panel builder to the client as proof of compliance. If the manufacturer adheres to the guidelines - and there would need to be monitoring of this, then the end user could be certain of getting a product of guaranteed quality and safety.

How would this be implemented in a practical, economic way, given the present state of the industry? Well, says Moreau, there would firstly have to be recognition by all role players that electrical control panels need to comply with the required standards. Secondly all role players would have to assist in ensuring compliance.

Six months or so ago, when the CPMA was being set up, they had approaches from other National associations suggesting they find a home with them, and their requirements would be attended to under a larger umbrella. They asked their core membership whether they felt they needed their own dedicated association - and the answer, overwhelmingly, was “Yes”. Did it need to be an official body? Again, the answer was “Yes”.

Now that this has been achieved, and the association is actively at work, Moreau and the other members of the committee believe they have turned a corner, and have made a good start to placing the panel manufacturers of the Cape and perhaps nationally on a more professional footing.