Washington Administrative Code › Title 296 - Labor and Industries, Department of › Chapter 296-400A - Plumber certification rules › Section 296-400A-005 - What definitions do I need to know to understand these rules?

Current through Register Vol. 24-14, July 15, 2024
Unless a different meaning is clearly required by the context,
				the following terms and definitions are important:
"Administrative law judge (ALJ)"
is a person
				appointed by the chief administrative law judge pursuant to chapter 34.12 RCW
				to conduct or preside over hearings convened under chapter 18.106 RCW and this
				chapter.
"Advisory board"
is the state advisory board of
				plumbers.
"Appeal bond"
is a certified check in the amount
				prescribed under
				RCW
				 18.106.200 made payable to the Washington
				state department of labor and industries.
"Appeal hearing"
is any proceeding in which an
				administrative law judge is empowered to determine legal rights, duties, or
				privileges of specific parties on behalf of the director.
"Applicant"
is any person, firm, corporation or
				other entity applying to become a licensed plumbing contractor according to
				chapter 18.106 RCW and this chapter. Applicant includes all principal
				officer(s), members, partners of a partnership, firm, corporation, or other
				entity named on the application.
"Assist"
means a friend, neighbor, or other person
				(including a certified plumber) may assist a householder, at his or her
				residence, in the performance of plumbing work on the condition that the
				householder is present when the work is performed and the person assisting the
				householder does not accept money or other forms of compensation for the
				volunteer work. For the purposes of this subsection, a residence is a
				single-family residence.
"Audit"
means an assessment, evaluation,
				examination or investigation of, plumbing contractor's accounts, books and
				records for the purpose of verifying the plumbing contractor's compliance with
				RCW
				 18.106.320.
"Backflow assembly"
or
"backflow prevention
				assembly"
or
"backflow preventer"
is a device as described
				in the
Uniform Plumbing Code
used to prevent the undesired
				reversal of flow of water or other substances through a cross-connection into
				the public water system or consumer's potable water system.
"Backflow assembly tester"
is an individual
				certified by the department of health to perform tests to backflow
				assemblies.
"Calendar day"
means each day of the week,
				including weekends and holidays.
"Continuing education"
is approved plumbing and
				electrical courses for journey level, domestic pump specialty plumbers, and
				residential specialty plumbers, to meet the requirements to maintain their
				plumbing certification and for trainees or individuals to become certified
				plumbers in Washington.
"Continuing education course provider"
is an
				entity approved by the department, in consultation with the state advisory
				board of plumbers, to provide continuing education training for journey level,
				domestic pump specialty plumbers, residential specialty plumbers, and trainees.
				All training course providers must comply with the requirements in WAC
				296-400A-028.
"Continuity affidavit"
is a form developed by the
				department that is used to verify whether medical gas pipe installation work
				(brazing process) has been performed bian-nually. This form is provided to the
				department at the time of renewal by the person holding the medical gas piping
				installer endorsement and requires the notarized signature of the employer of
				the medical gas piping installer or another qualified verifier as determined by
				the department. Continuity is a visual examination by the employer of the
				brazing that was performed. The medical gas installer must also review the
				current medical gas code and sign the affidavit stating that they have done
				so.
"Control"
means that the journey level plumber,
				specialty plumber, or temporary permit plumber is physically on-site at the
				start of each day and each and every job site to diagnose, direct, and lay out
				the plumbing work the trainee is to perform.
"Course of study"
means classroom training and
				practical work experience in the plumbing industry as defined in WAC
				296-400A-100.
"Department"
is the department of labor and
				industries.
"Director"
is the director of the department of
				labor and industries or designee.
"Dispatcher"
means the contractor's employee who
				authorized the work assignment of the person employed in violation of chapter
				18.106 RCW.
"Final judgment"
means any money that is owed to a
				claimant as a result of court action against or settlement with a plumbing
				contractor and/or plumbing contractor's bond or assigned savings account with
				the department or any money that is owed the department as a result of a
				plumbing contractor's unsuccessful appeal of an infraction. Final judgment also
				includes any penalties assessed against the plumbing contractor and owed the
				department as a result of an infraction or notice of correction that has not
				been appealed, final tax warrants or any delinquent fees or penalties
				due.
"Journey level plumber"
is anyone who has learned
				the commercial plumbing trade and has been issued a journey level certificate
				of competency by the department. A journey level plumber may work on plumbing
				projects including residential, commercial and industrial worksite
				locations.
"Medical gas piping installer"
is anyone who has
				been issued a medical gas piping installer endorsement of competency by the
				department.
"Medical gas piping systems"
are piping systems
				that convey or involve oxygen, nitrous oxide, high pressure nitrogen, medical
				compressed air, and other medical gas or equipment including, but not limited
				to, medical vacuum systems.
"Multiunit"
is a multi-single family residence
				contained in a building or group of buildings that do not exceed three stories
				on any portion of the building.
"Plumbing"
is that craft involved in installing,
				altering, repairing and renovating potable water systems, liquid waste systems
				and medical gas piping systems in the footprint of a building. Potable water
				systems, liquid waste systems, and medical gas piping systems are defined by
				the current
Uniform Plumbing Code
(UPC) and amendments adopted
				by the state building code council. All piping, fixtures, pumps and plumbing
				appurtenances that are used for rain water catchment and a reclaimed water
				system are included in the definition of liquid waste systems.
"Plumbing contractor"
means any person, corporate
				or otherwise, who engages in, or offers or advertises to engage in, any
				plumbing work covered by the provisions of this chapter by way of trade or
				business, or any person, corporate or otherwise, who employs anyone, or offers
				or advertises to employ anyone, to engage in any plumbing work as defined in
				this section. The plumbing contractor is responsible for ensuring the plumbing
				business is operated in accordance with rules adopted under this
				chapter.
"Records"
include, but are not limited to, all
				bids, invoices, billing receipts, time cards and payroll records that show the
				work was performed, advertised, or bid.
"Reinstatement"
or
"reinstated"
means
				the reinstatement of a plumbing contractor's license after the license has
				expired, or has been suspended, or been revoked.
"Relicense"
means an update to a plumbing
				contractor's license because of business structure change or name
				change.
"Renewal"
or
"renewed"
means the
				renewal of a plumbing contractor's license before it expires.
"Residential service plumber"
means anyone who has
				been issued a certificate of competency limited to performing residential
				service plumbing in an existing residential structure.
(a) In single-family dwellings and duplexes
			 only, a residential service plumber may service, repair, or replace previously
			 existing fixtures, piping, and fittings that are outside the interior wall or
			 above the floor, often, but not necessarily in a like-in-kind manner. In any
			 residential structure, a residential service plumber may perform plumbing work
			 as needed to perform drain cleaning and may perform leak repairs on any pipe,
			 fitting, or fixture from the leak to the next serviceable connection.
(b) A residential service plumber may
			 directly supervise plumber trainees provided the trainees have been supervised
			 by an appropriate journey level or specialty plumber for the trainees' first
			 two thousand hours of training.
"Residential structure"
means single-family
				dwellings, duplexes, and multiunit buildings that do not exceed three
				stories.
"Secured contractor"
is a plumbing contractor who
				has complied with
				RCW
				 18.106.410 by assigning to the department a
				savings account held in a Washington state bank, or by filing with the
				department a surety bond.
"Security"
is a savings account held in a
				Washington state branch of a financial institution and assigned to the
				department in lieu of a surety bond.
"Specialty plumber"
is anyone who has been issued
				a specialty plumbers certificate of competency by the department limited
				to:
(a) Installation, maintenance and
			 repair of plumbing for single-family dwellings, duplexes and apartment
			 buildings which do not exceed three stories;
(b) Maintenance and repair of backflow
			 assemblies located within a residential or commercial building or structure.
			 For the purposes of this subsection, "maintenance and repair" includes cleaning
			 and replacing internal parts of an assembly, but does not include installing or
			 replacing backflow assemblies.
(c)
			 "Domestic pump specialty" means the installation, maintenance, and repair of a
			 domestic water pumping system consisting of the pressurization, treatment, and
			 filtration components of a domestic water system consisting of: One or more
			 pumps; pressure, storage, and other tanks; filtration and treatment equipment;
			 if appropriate, a pitless adapter; along with valves, transducers, and other
			 plumbing components that:
(i) Are used to
			 acquire, treat, store, or move water suitable for either drinking or other
			 domestic purposes, including irrigation, to:
(A) A single-family dwelling, duplex, or
			 other similar place of residence;
(B) A public water system, as defined in RCW
			  70.119.020 and as limited under RCW  70.119.040; or
(C) A farm owned and operated by a person
			 whose primary residence is located within thirty miles of any part of the
			 farm;