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Occupational Health and Safety Act, 1993 (Act No. 85 of 1993)

Guidance Notes

Electrical Installations Regulations, 2009

2. The definitions and the regulations

2.1 Regulation 2 - Responsibility for electrical installations

 

2.1.1        Subregulation 1

 

Subject to subregulation (3), the user or lessor of an electrical installation, as the case may be, shall be responsible for the safety, safe use and maintenance of the electrical installation he or she uses or leases.

 

Definitions:

 

"electrical installation"

means any machinery, in or on any premises, used for the transmission of electricity from a point of control to a point of consumption anywhere on the premises, including any article forming part of such an electrical installation irrespective of whether or not it is part of the electrical circuit, but excluding—

(a) any machinery of the supplier related to the supply of electricity on the premises;
(b) any machinery which transmits electrical energy in communication, control circuits, television or radio circuits;
(c) an electrical installation on a vehicle, vessel, train or aircraft; and
(d) control circuits of 50 V or less between different parts of machinery or system components, forming a unit, that are separately installed and derived from an independent source or an isolating transformer;

 

"point of control"

means the point at which an electrical installation on or in any premises can be switched off by a user or lessor from the electricity supplied from the point of supply, or the point at which a particular part of an electrical installation on or in any premises can be switched off where different users occupy different portions of such premises;

 

"point of outlet"

means any termination of an electrical installation which has been provided for connecting any electrical machinery without the use of tools;

 

"point of consumption"

means any point of outlet or the supply terminals of machinery which is not connected to a point of outlet and which converts electrical energy to another form of energy: Provided that in the case of machinery which has been installed for any specific purpose as a complete unit, the point of consumption shall be the supply terminals which have been provided on the unit of machinery for that purpose;

 

"point of supply"

means the point at which electricity is supplied to any premises by a supplier;

 

"supply terminals"

in relation to machinery installed as a complete unit, means the terminals or connection clamps on such machinery where the external conductors supplying the machinery with electricity are terminated or connected.

 

"supplier"

in relation to a particular electrical installation, means any person who supplies or contracts or agrees to supply electricity to that electrical installation;

 

"user"

in relation to plant or machinery, means the person who uses plant or machinery for his own benefit or who has the right of control over the use of plant or machinery, but does not include a lessor of, or any person employed in connection with, that plant or machinery;

 

Notes:

1. The lessor is included into the regulations because the lessor is excluded from the definition of "user".

 

2. These electrical installations may be on a domestic property, commercial property, industrial property or agricultural property.

 

2. 1.2 Subregulation 2

 

The user or lessor of an electrical installation, as the case may be, shall be responsible for the safety of the conductors on his or her premises connecting the electrical installation to the point of supply in the case where the point of supply is not the point of control.

 

Note: Self explanatory

 

2. 1.3 Subregulation 3

 

Where there is a written undertaking between a user or lessor and a lessee whereby the responsibility for an electrical installation has been transferred to the lessee, the lessee shall be responsible for that installation as if he or she were the user or lessor.

 

Note: Self explanatory