South Africa has no reliable national statistics on electrical product compliance, with independent industry testing consistently showing high failure rates, says voluntary electrical safety association, Safehouse . Most South Africans assume that if a product is sold in a store, it must be safe because the retailer has vetted it. Unfortunately, that isnt always true.
Many products available on our shelves fail to meet basic safety requirements. And while non-compliant electrical products are not always immediately dangerous or seen upfront as dangerous, they can pose significant risks. More concerning is the systemic threat of South Africas illicit electrical goods trade and the far-reaching consequences it has on consumer safety, economic stability and industrial sustainability.
Safehouse was founded in 2014 in response to ineffective regulation and the lack of robust market oversight by the National Regulator for Compulsory Specifications NRCS , which relies primarily on administrative approvals and single-type test reports. Without ongoing quality control, the risk of undetected non-compliance increases significantly, creating a system that can be exploited by certain importers and unscrupulous local manufacturers to sell a wide range of products under a single approval certificate. Compounding the problem is the NRCSs refusal to publicly disclose non-compliant products, a practice that leaves all consumers exposed to unnecessary risk.
