2010 – The Year Gone By

Some may say that 2010 was the best year ever.

That would be particularly appropriate if you are a Spanish football supporter or a Sharks supporter. Not the best year ever if you are a Dutch football supporter or a Western Province supporter (Blue Bulls didn’t even make it to the final!).

The year has definitely had its ups and downs

and Southey Gauteng, too, has had its ups and downs. The details of the these need not be elaborated on but suffice to say, that we all know which parts we enjoyed and which ones we didn’t.

Safety Achievements

The achievements of the division have, however, been impressive with respect to safety.

Our aim is always to ensure that we provide a safe and secure working environment and the provision of this is not only the role and responsibility of management but of each and every employee within the organization. Management can only provide the framework for a safe work place, however, it is the site team that is required to ensure that the work is performed in a safe and “risk-free” manner.

Particular praise must go to the Komati site

which continues to set new records and recently completed 200 days without a medical case (i.e. without a 1^st Aid case) and 400 days without a Lost Time Injury. This is that much more impressive when one considers that there are approximately 450 people on the site. We therefore congratulate the Contract Manager, Johan Steyn, for his and his teams efforts in attaining this achievement. Hennie Viljoen’s present record is coming under threat as the man hours build at Komati.

Below, some of the statistics are listed :

Site Stats – Manhours since last LTI

Reality checks and incident management system

We have had a couple of reality checks but fortunately we have managed these events as effectively as possible.

We are introducing a system

whereby, as soon as an incident happens, the various site managers and concerned people are informed as soon as possible via SMS. It has become clear that information transfer between the sites can prevent a similar accident from happening at another site and therefore it is important to communicate findings and lessons learnt with each other.

Emphasis has in the past been on the management

ensuring that safety is applied on the sites, however the time has now come for this to be moved down to the skilled and semi-skill personnel. These people need to be incorporated more effectively into the system so that they can have their say and make the suggestions that can make a real difference in the way that things are done. Their involvement is paramount if we are going to succeed in the provision of a safe work place.

Having said all of this, it is all history.

History does not always play in your favour when dealing with statistics and therefore we need to place greater emphasis on the future and the need to ensure that we continue to improve, learn from our errors and use this knowledge in preventing further incidents from happening.

Safety and sub-contractors

One of the areas that have been identified as being a threat

is the use of sub-contractors who do not always have the same level of commitment to safety as we do. It is therefore absolutely important to ensure that any sub-contractors that we are using are suitably appointed, qualified and competent to undertake the work.

Proud Achievement at Valchem, Witbank

We are also proud to state

that we completed our tallest scaffolding structure during the year. This scaffold, ascending more than 90m into the Witbank sky, consumed approximately 80 tons.

SCAFFOLDING AT VALCHEM DURING ITS CONSTRUCTION – NOT FOR THOSE AFRAID OF HEIGHTS.

2011 – The Year Ahead

What does this year hold for us?

We believe that it will again be filled with all sorts of challenges and we will have to be on our toes throughout in order to deal with them. The general market is going to remain a tough one and therefore we need to increase our emphasis on cost cutting and improving efficiencies. These improved efficiencies will be achieved through accurate measurement and more emphasis on planning

Effective and appropriate employee training

One of the biggest drives

that will become an important role player is going to be the focus that will be placed on “appropriate and effective” training. All employees need training and we are therefore going to demand that training requirements and needs be analysed, training plans drawn up and suitable training providers for each area identified. All personnel will therefore be required to participate in this process and your co- operation will therefore be required. The benefits of correct training are enormous and will benefit the organization for years to come.

Contract deadlines

We have some large contracts

that we will have to complete during the year and they will stretch our resources however, plans are in place to deal with this. We need to benefit from the work that we have available to us and therefore we need commitment and dedication to complete them within budget and on time.

Accredited Management Standards

We will commence putting in place the requirements of OSHA 18000 and ISO14000.

• OSHA 18000

is a worldwide recognized safety management standard and will require some changes to the systems presently used. Your input and contributions will therefore be greatly appreciated and we need to assist those implementing this system as much as practically possible.

• ISO14000

is the International Standards Organisation’s standard for the management of environmental management. It is intended that this system of management will also be introduced during the course of the year. It is presently not anticipated that the system will be audited however the protocols and procedures will be put in place and tested. This too is a heady task and we will need to co-operate with those implementing it.

ISO accreditation

• ISO9000-2008

Southey Contracting is an ISO9000-2008 registered company. The certifying authority is SGS who are authorized by the International Standards Organisation to undertake the audit of our system and if found to comply with the ISO9000-2008 requirements, issue a certificate stating that the management system employed complies with the ISO system. These audits are undertaken annually by the certifying authority.

There are a number of “pillars” to the ISO9000 system

and these have to be complied with. These pillars include amongst others : Dealing with customer complaints, verifying suppliers, ensuring competence and calibration of equipment.

We at Southey Contracting have a system

that conforms to and complies with the ISO system and therefore it is essential that we make use of the system to ensure that we a) retain our accreditation and b) get the benefit from the system. Whilst many critics have said that the ISO system increases the work load, particularly the paper work, the benefits should and do out way the additional effort.

The system is there to ensure

that the customer gets what he/she has been promised and that should anything go wrong, it is corrected and the cause of the error investigated and the process improved to ensure that it doesn’t happen again. The process can only be improved if and when errors are reported and it is therefore everybody’s duty to report errors made so that the necessary steps can be put in place to ensure that they do not re-occur.

It is appreciated that we need to improve the awareness of the ISO system

within the company and therefore, information sessions will be held with staff over the next 6 months to improve their knowledge and use of the system.

Accolade for Concord Refrigeration

From a Group perspective, we believe that we could see some substantial changes and wish our Corporate division all the very best in achieving their goals of increasing the influence of Southey.

It was a very proud moment

when one of the subsidiaries of Southey Holdings, Concord Refrigeration, was named as the supplier of the Year to the Checkers/Shoprite group. As you may be aware, Concord provide their fridges to Checkers/Shoprite and it is therefore with great pride that this accolade was accepted.

The Disneyland Pre-School – a social responsibility project

As part of our Corporate Social Responsibility initiative,

we as a company, have undertaken renovations to the Disneyland Pre-school in Diepsloot. This school provides pre-primary education to about 60 impoverished children. Since June 2010, we have replaced the roof, modified and tiled the class rooms and built a covered external play area.

Equally important, some of the Linbro Park office staff have undertaken some initiatives of their own.

These projects have been done by the employees themselves and include the provision of pigeon holes, painting of the walls, building and installation of shelves and the collection of donated items.

A WELL KNOWN ARTIST SELECTS HIS PALLET

Chalk Board at Disneyland Pre-primary

The colourful pigeon holes

Staff News

• We have a new Granny in our midst. Congratulations to Lorraine Lenton on becoming a Granny to a bonny little granddaughter.
• We welcome Lizzy to the Linbro Park offices who will undertake the cleaning and refreshment duties.

How well do you know your company?

Did you know:

• Dormac

are the largest ship repairers in Southern Africa. Dormac is a wholly owned subsidiary of Southey;

• Gascon

is the only company in Southern Africa who has an R stamp for the repair of pressure vessels in-situ;

• Southey

has the second largest fleet of High Pressure and Ultra High Pressure cleaning pumps in South Africa;

• The average length of service of Southey employees

in the Gauteng division is 14.3 years;

• Southey Contracting

has a Level 4 Broad Based Black Economic Empowerment rating and is considered as a Value Added Supplier.

• Southey  has  fully registered companies/offices

in Zambia, Angola and Oman.