By D.S (Vollie) Brink Pr.Eng. MSAICE, MPMISA
I have been working for 66 years and yet, I still learn something new every day.
Vollie Brink is one of the industry’s longest-serving wet services engineers. He continues to serve on SABS committees and has been involved in the Green Building Council’s Green Star rating system. Brink continues to consult for various organisations while enjoying a well-earned retirement. |
I was taught that the engineer must always assess the risk factors and address it in the design. Much to my amazement, a young representative of a piping manufacturer recently said to me, “The engineer must not make provision in the design to prevent potential problems.”
The discussion was about the South African design standard versus the EU standard for drainage in terms of the horizontal branch and horizontal discharge pipes and the fixtures that may be connected to it. The South African standard, SANS10400-P, requires that soil and waste horizontal branch pipes must be separate and connect separately to the stack pipe. The fixtures of an apartment are called a ‘group’, which typically consists of a WC, washbasin, shower, bath, sink and washing machine, and these fixtures in the ‘group’ must all connect one-by-one to the stack with at least 200mm c/c apart.
The fixtures of an ablution are called a ‘range’ and typically consist of a number of WCs, washbasins and urinals (in the case of male toilets). These ‘ranges’ of fixtures must also be connected separately, group by group, to the stack pipe with 200mm c/c apart. It is obvious that a WC cannot be connected to the same horizontal branch pipe as the wastewater fixtures – this makes good sense to “prevent a potential problem, health risk and nuisance.” This is clear “design to prevent potential problems,” and good and responsible engineering design.
There are other preventative design measures that can be taken to prevent potential health risks and nuisance, such as to provide for backflow prevention when a blockage occurs downstream in the drain outside the building and to prevent spillage inside the building, because a spillage outside the building is better than inside the building. A gully can act as a backflow overflow, but there are other methods that would be a ‘cleaner’ solution, aesthetically more acceptable, and also a method of “design to prevent potential problems and mitigating risk and nuisance”. If the designer ignores ‘potential problems’ and there are consequences, then he/she could be in serious trouble.
There can be no ambiguity around the seriousness of health and safety and everyone’s responsibilities in this regard are in the latest OHS Act. The responsibilities of the manufacturer, supplier and installer are also clearly spelt out in terms of the Consumer Protection Act, and if anybody wittingly and knowingly chooses to ignore the potential risks to health and safety, it will be regarded as a serious matter with serious consequences.When we talk about the ‘health’ element in the design and installation, we are actually talking about protecting or preserving health and mitigating potential problems, which are serious matters that the manufacturer, supplier, installer and the engineer cannot ignore – and specifically not to ‘save money’.
This young man argued with me and said, “It is fine if you want to have separate branch pipes because then I sell more pipes.” This reflects a complete misinterpretation of the responsibilities in terms of the Consumer Protection Act. It also shows a disregard for the health and safety of the people who will occupy the building and the fact that the engineer must mitigate and prevent problems in the design and construction.
I have always maintained that the manufacturer plays an essential role in the ‘chain’ of role players in the building industry. I believe that the manufacturer must take note of the responsibilities of the other role players and the ‘institutional’ requirements of the various countries where they operate. Role players in the ‘chain’ must respect one another, from the institutional bodies to the last body in the chain.
A serious matter that we have to deal with in South Africa at the moment and which we have to address in the design, is the lack of maintenance and competence to carry out maintenance. I watched a video on water conservation in another country and the water engineer said, “We fix leaking pipes and we also replace pipes before it can leak.” This is responsible engineering and preventing problems from occurring.There are two types of maintenance: fix what is broken and preventative maintenance. In South Africa, there is a dire lack of ‘preventative maintenance’.
