Solar inspection and administration system developed for SABS

The South African Bureau of Standards (SABS), a leading global provider of standards, management systems, business improvement and regulatory approval information, required a solution for the auditing and quality assessment of solar geyser installations… (more)

SA moves to ban the bulb

The incandescent lamp, which has famously been used in general lighting for over a century, is on its way out. In recent years, some 18 countries the world-over have introduced measures effectively banning manufacture, import or sale of the energy hungry bulb and now, it seems, South Africa is about to join their ranks… (more)

What exactly is the “SABS mark?”

There is widespread confusion in industry about what the South African Bureau for Standards (SABS) “mark” means, how companies can attain the SABS mark, and the difference between terms such as “accreditation” and “certification”. Starting with accreditation and certification, one often hears of “SABS accreditation”. As impressive as this sounds, it is a meaningless statement because the SABS provides certification and not accreditation services… (more)

Building codes, regulations amended for sustainability

As South Africa is a fast growing economy where the demand for energy often exceeds supply, the building codes and regulations, which are administered by the NRCS and regulated by local government in terms of the National Building Regulations and the Building Standards Act, have been amended to embrace sustainability, commencing with energy efficiency. SABS was approached to draft national standards that could assist government interventions in reducing the demand for energy. SANS 204:2011, Energy efficiency in buildings was developed as a best practice document… (more)

SABS and TIA support young innovators

The Technology Innovation Agency (TIA) recently signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the South African Bureau of Standards (SABS) valued at R30-million over the next three years, to give young innovators access to SABS standards, certification, training services and testing facilities. The MOU forms part of support services that TIA envisaged under the Youth Technology Innovation Fund launched in January 2012… (more)

SANS 941: Energy efficiency of electrical and electronic apparatus

The National Energy Efficiency Strategy of March 2005 (reviewed in October 2008), proposes that by 2015, a final energy demand reduction of 12% should have been realized by South Africa. This translates to an average reduction of 1% per year between 2005 and 2015. The publication of SANS 941, Energy efficiency of electrical and electronic apparatus is a necessary step taken in line with the South African government policy in an effort to comply with the stipulated energy demand reduction requirements… (more)

ISO publishes Six Sigma as international standard

Six Sigma, a data-driven method for improving business and quality performance, has been published as a two-part ISO standard. Six Sigma was originally developed by Motorola in 1986 to ameliorate manufacturing processes with the goal of 99,99966% of products free of defects (i.e. 3,4 errors per million)… (more)

ISO publishes Six Sigma as international standard

Six Sigma , a data-driven method for improving business and quality performance, has been published as a two-part ISO standard. Six Sigma was originally developed by Motorola in 1986 to ameliorate manufacturing processes with the goal of 99,99966% of products free of defects (i.e., 3,4 errors per million)… (more)

EMI and EMC testing

Electromagnetic compatibility (EMC) is the ability of electronic and electrical systems or components to work correctly when they are close together. In practice this means that electromagnetic disturbances from each item of equipment must be limited and also that each item must have an adequate level of immunity… (more)

Powerline telecommunications in spotlight again

There has recently been debate at several of the SA Bureau of Standards (SABS) technical committees concerned with standards in the communications and power distribution fields… (more)

Responses to: The shocking state…

 The manufacturers/importers and retailers of the unsafe plugs, sockets, adapters and portable socket-outlets referred to above send responses that are anything but helpful. In fact, they show clearly how their focus is only on money… (more)

The shocking state of plugs, sockets, adapters and portable socket-outlets

Products that allow electric plugs to be inserted incorrectly, thereby exposing users to live parts and the risk of a lethal electric shock, can be found for sale at major retail outlets in South Africa. But despite its mandate to enforce compulsory specifications and ensure public safety, the National Regulator of Compulsory Specifications says it has no grounds to take action. There is clearly something “rotten in the state of Denmark”… (more)

The shocking state of plugs, sockets, adapters and portable socket-outlets in South Africa

by Chris Yelland and Peter Adams, EE Publishers

Products that allow electric plugs to be inserted incorrectly, thereby exposing users to live parts and the risk of lethal electric shocks, can be found for sale at major retail outlets in South Africa. But despite its mandate to enforce compulsory specifications and ensure public safety, the National Regulator of Compulsory Specifications says it has no grounds to take action. There is clearly something very wrong in “the state of Rome”… (more)

Traceability – a key issue in EMC measurements

“Traceability of results obtained in EMC measurements is a key requirement in compliance with international standards,” said Lukas Naudé, chairman of the specialist technical committee for EMC of SANAS. EMC is an important part of evaluating the performance of products manufactured by the electrical, electronic and communications industry… (more)

South African Address Standards Workshop

The South African Bureau of Standards (SABS) officially launched the South African Address Standard, SANS 1883, on 15 and 16 October 2009 at Gallagher Estate in Midrand. SABS through the Standards South Africa sub committee SC 71E Information Technology – Geographic Information, and various organisations in both the public and private sectors prepared the series of standards… (more)

The road ahead for South Africa’s homegrown address standard

SANS 1883, Geographic information – Addresses, South Africa’s address standard was officially launched on 15 October 2009. The aim of the South African address standard is not to devise a new system of addressing nor to build a national address database, but rather to enable interoperability in address data, which will facilitate the allocation of addresses and the use of address data… (more)

SABS – up to its old tricks again?

If this was the first time such a thing had happened, perhaps it could simply be put down to lack of competence by the relevant SABS laboratory and mark scheme staff, but in fact there have been three previous incidents in recent years, which point to a much deeper problem at SABS Commercial… (more)