IN THIS EDITION…
Company News
T & N awarded Kusile Roof Sheeting Contract
Project News
Medupi ducting gets painted
How well do you know Southeys?
Southey turns 75
Safety
Cape Town ‘handle’ a safety issue
Gauteng awarded 5 NOSA Stars
Quality
How to access the QA documentation
Training
Progress Report on the learnerships
Legal
Legal assessment reveals a clean bill of health
Southey Staff
Three new employees join Southey Gauteng
On the Lighter Side
TATE AND NICHOLSON AWARDED KUSILE ROOF SHEETING AND CLADDING CONTRACT
The roof sheeting division have been awarded a 4 year contract to sheet and clad the boiler houses at the Kusile Power Station.
As part of Eskom’s expansion plans
the Kusile Power Station (formally known as Project Bravo), situated very near to the Kendal Power Station in Nkangala region of Mpumalanga, is being built.
This is a 5 400 Megawatt coal fired station that is dry cooled
and is a “sister station” to the Medupi Power Station being built in Lephalale in Limpopo Province. The main contractor to Eskom for the boiler side of both of these stations is Hitachi Power Africa.
Our roof sheeting division (more commonly known as Tate and Nicholson),
under the leadership of Martin Bakker, put together a very competitive and comprehensive tender and after many months of tough negotiations, clarifications and discussions, signed the contract for this project late in December 2013.
The scope of the contract
includes the supply of all of the necessary labour, materials and equipment to install the roof sheeting and side cladding to the six boilers and their auxiliary bays as well as all of the rainwater goods and associated piping.
The anticipated contract period is 50 months with work having started in January 2014.
To date progress has been slow
however it is expected that this will soon ramp up and there will be a flurry of activity on site for the next couple of years and beyond.
There will be numerous challenges and hurdles to overcome
as has become the norm on some of these sites, however there is a great deal of confidence in the management team and construction personnel that have been deployed and we therefore have every reason to believe that they will be successful in their efforts.
Whilst the roof sheeting is not enormous,
it is the side cladding that makes up the largest percentage of the work. The installation of this side cladding will be a challenge as these rise up beyond 100m in the air.
We have therefore procured specialised suspended scaffolding equipment
to ease this process and ensure the safety of the personnel undertaking this work. We hereby wish the project team all the best of luck in the execution of this contract and sincerely hope that it is incident free.
PROJECT NEWS
Medupi ACC ESD and SDD Ducting get painted.
There has been much said and done
in order to get the ducting that carries the steam from the turbines to the condensers at the Medupi Power Station at Lephalale painted.
These ducts, measuring up to 3.5m in diameter and rising up to 60m above ground level,
carry the wet steam (Exhaust Steam Ducts – ESDs) to the Air Cooled Condensers (ACC) via the SDD (or headers), prior to feeding into the ‘radiators’ and flowing back to the boilers.
Southey Gauteng entered into a contract in June 2013 with GEA
to HP wash and re-coat these ducts. There is a total of 22 000m² to be treated and the biggest challenge is the fact that scaffolding can not be used.
The primary form of access is via “Rope Access” or alternatively via Cherry Picker.
This therefore makes the work that much more difficult, time consuming and compounded even more so due to the fact that the area below the ducts is very congested and a hive of activity.
Fortunately, there is a fair amount of the ducting still on the ground
waiting to be erected and we therefore have the opportunity to paint some of these prior to erection and installation.
HOW WELL DO YOU KNOW YOUR COMPANY?
2014 marks a major milestone for the Southey group. 75 years ago in 1939, R.J. Southey was founded.
Originally a contracting company servicing South Africa’s mining industry,
Southey Holdings has taken a series of key strategic steps to become the driving force behind a diverse network of businesses within a variety of industries. The group represents one of the largest and most respected privately owned groups in Africa, with operations in a broad but complementary range of activities.
Anniversary celebrations began in medieval times, when people celebrated 25 and 50 years of marriage.
On the modern wedding calendar, the 75th is a diamond anniversary. Natural diamonds are formed over a few billion years, at high temperature and extreme pressure. They are then brought close to the earth′s surface through deep volcanic eruptions.
The symbolism in this analogy is quite appropriate.
As with the case of marriage, Southey Holdings reached this milestone because of relationships with their staff and clients, which were forged over a long period of time and sometimes having to endure extreme internal pressures with fluctuating external market conditions.
The culmination of these events has led Southey to become the gem that it is today.
With this in mind, we as Southey Holdings, would like to take this opportunity to thank our staff and clients for making this milestone possible and we further wish to ensure you of our continued commitment as employer and service provider for many years to come.
SAFETY
Cape Town staff commit their hands to safety.
In order to address an abnormally high incident rate relating to hand injuries,
the staff engaged in the scaffolding and insulation contract at the nuclear power station at Koeberg, have universally committed themselves to protecting their hands.
In a unique demonstration,
all of the employees placed a hand print on a fabric panel and thus indicated their commitment to the cause. The placing of handprints by all employees is now part of the induction process and therefore it is hoped that the commitment starts right on the very first day of work.
To date, since the introduction of this initiative,
hand injuries have reduced to an amazing zero – hence proving once again that the involvement and commitment of all involved is critical to the success of any such campaigns.
Well done on this fantastic effort
and we all hope that it continues to be successful.
Southey Gauteng awarded NOSA 5 Star Platinum status
It is with great pride that we can announce that once again, Southey Gauteng ran the gauntlet of a very strict and in depth NOSA audit and emerged with the award of 5 Star Platinum status.
This is an exceptional result
when one considers that our main Eskom sites, our Trichardt offices and workshops as well as the Linbro Park offices were included in this audit.
Whilst there were some nervous moments
surrounding some aspects of the audit, the overall and lasting impression as described by the auditor, was that we have a mature and well run system where the record keeping and ability to retrieve data was without comparison.
Our Safety Manager, Malcolm Mountford and his team of Safety Officers and Safety Representatives
must be congratulated on their efforts and dedication to achieving this accolade. It must however be remembered that they need every employee’s help and assistance as well and without their support we would not be able to achieve that which we have achieved.
POETIC SAFETY STAFF SPREAD THE WORD
Lourette van der Walt, Senior Safety Officer for the Mpumalanga region, wrote this poem to ‘spice things up’ for tool box talks.
Who am I?
I am more powerful than the combined armies of the world.
I have destroyed more than all wars of the nations.
I am more deadly than bullets or missiles, and I have wrecked more homes and jobs than the mightiest siege of guns.
I steal billions every year.
I spare no one.
I find my victims among the rich and poor, among the young and old, the strong and weak, the high level and low level workers.
Widows and orphans know me well.
I kill thousands of employees each year.
I am relentless.
I am everywhere.
On land and sea and in the air, in the home, on the job, on the streets and highways.
I breed sickness, degradation and death.
Yet few people make a real effort to avoid me or even take me seriously.
I destroy, crush, maim.
I give nothing.
I take all.
I am your worst enemy.
I AM CARELESSNESS
QUALITY
Quality Management System education : How to access the Quality documentation that is available.
A fundamental of the ISO9001:2008 quality standard,
which Southey Contracting is accredited as having, is that all employees that are required to access the documentation that covers this system must be able to readily do so.
In the past, many paper copies of the documents and procedures
were copied and distributed to the various sites and offices. This, however, is both time consuming and uneconomical (as well as being environmentally unfriendly).
It must be remembered that the standard also states that these documents are “controlled”
which means that they have to be recorded, updated and each copy must be an exact replica of the original document that is held in the head office.
This posed a few problems and challenges
and therefore it was decided some time ago, to do away with paper (or hard) copies and rather to use the Southey Intranet to access these important documents.
This makes the maintenance and updating easier to do
thereby reducing control measures. However, one of the most important benefits is that access by a far larger number of employees is enabled.
Anybody who has a “Southey” email address
may access the intranet and therefore access both the quality and safety documentation available. In order to protect the system, any prints made from the intranet of the documents is “uncontrolled” which means that it is not official and can be used for reference only. The only “controlled” copy is the one on the intranet.
To access the Intranet, use the following steps :
- Load your Internet browser
- Type in http://www.intranet.southey.local/
- Type in your user name ; e.g. jsoap
- Type in your password that you created : e.g. bel8@8
This will take you to the Southey Intranet which opens up a whole new world:
a place where you can access all sorts of company information, including all of the Quality documentation which can be found under the ‘Quality’ tab.
The ‘Quality’ tab will list a whole host of documents.
Click on the “Southey Contracting QMS” tab and now you will be taken to any one of the following :
1) Forms and Labels
These are all of the ‘official’ forms and labels to be used with this system.
2) Quality Procedures
These are the procedures that need to be followed that ensue that what you are doing is in accordance with the requirements of ISO/OHSA.
3) Work Instructions
These are the work instruction that deal with how the work must be performed such that it conforms with being procedurally correct.
Good luck and enjoy browsing around the Southey Intranet.
PLEASE NOTE
Southey Contracting – Gauteng is currently integrating the ISO9001-2008 (Quality), ISO 14001 (Environmental) and OHSA 18000 (Safety) standards ‘Integrated Management System’ or IMS.
in order to do this, the appointment of a SHEQ Manager needs to be made
who can represent these topics at Exco level. It is proposed that Mr. Ben Garrad, the Technical Director, be appointed to undertake this as he currently attends the Exco Meetings and as Technical Director is responsible for these matters as part of his portfolio.
Should there be any objections to this,
please forward them to the Divisional Managing Director, John Humby, at the Johannesburg office on either 011 579 4600 or jhumby@southey.co.za
The Southey Contracting ISO/OHSA systems are audited by SGS
TRAINING
News from the ‘Training Room’…
The training department has been very busy since the beginning of the year.
We had to make sure that all training requirements for the NOSA Five Star audit were current and compliant.
Training courses for the year to date included:
- Working at Heights
- Construction Supervisors
- Legal Liability
- Incident Investigation
- Fire Fighting
- HIRA
- Legal Liability
- First Aid
- SHE Rep
- Evacuation Wardens
- Forklift Re-certification
- Asbestos Handling
Abafundi bethu a bayisithupha (6), bazobe babhala ukuhlolwa okokugcina abakuqoqayo ekupheleni kwa May,
futhi basebenza kanzima kakhulu. Southey Head Office bayaziqhenya ngempela ngabo, kanti siba fisela impumelelo kuze kube manje.
Futhi sethembe ukuthola ithuba elefanayo iqoqo elisha labafundi ngo Juni 2014.
Thina e Southey sizo nazisa esikhathini kulezi ntuthuko.
Our 6 Management learners will be writing their final summative exam at the end of May
and they are working very hard. We at Southey Head Office are really proud of them and their achievements to date.
We hope to afford the same opportunity
to a new batch of students in June 2014. We shall keep you up to date on these developments.
The merSETA mandatory grant application has to be submitted by the end of April
and we are currently gathering all the information for training done in 2013, as well as training planned for 2014.
This gives the Department of Higher Education an indication
of what companies are doing to up-skill their employees. Southey Contracting has been very successful in the past and we hope to do even better going forward.
NGITOKUBONA EKLASINI!!
LEGAL
Legal assessment reveals a clean bill of health
While the South African public as well as the rest of the world remain focused on the Oscar Pistorius trial,
Southey Contracting Gauteng also had to endure a legal battle of its own. In February 2014 the Southey JHB office was pleased (unlike Mr. Pistorius) to undergo a full legal compliance audit to no fewer than 39 pieces of National, Provincial and Municipal Legislation!
The audit covered such varied subjects
from the Constitution of the Republic of SA, the Labour Relations Act, the Promotion of Access to Information Act and all the way down to a host of very specific City of Johannesburg By-laws and regulations.
We are exceptionally pleased to announce
that Southey JHB office came through the audit with flying colours and while we learned a lot about the legal environment we operate in, it is good to know the management is complying to the law and in doing so looking after the well-being of all employees, neighbours, residents of Johannesburg and South Africa.
Congratulations
to the team who worked on achieving this milestone in the company’s history.
GETTING TO KNOW OUR STAFF
We highlight some of the individuals who make up the staff compliment of the Gauteng Contracting Division who may not be known to you.
Southey Gauteng have recruited and recently employed the following people :
Deli Kheswa in the position of Client Liaison Manager.
She will be primarily involved in ensuring that our relationship with our major clients is improved and provide feedback to both ourselves and our clients with regard to latest developments. Deli is an Electrical Engineering graduate from the Vaal University of Technology.
Nicci Burger in the position of Creditors Clerk.
Nicci takes over the role of Creditors Clerk from Sally e Sousa who will now assist Richard Chetty in the Procurement department. Nicci brings many years of valuable experience and knowledge to the Accounts Department.
Promise Msimango in the position of Estimator.
Promise has an B.Sc. (Hons) in Quantity Surveying and will join the Estimating Department to supplement the personnel there and increase our activities in that area of the business. She will initially be involved in site visits and learning more about our business, however we are confident that she will provide a good service to both ourselves and our potential clients.
ON THE LIGHTER SIDE
A blonde calls SA Airways and asks, “Can you tell me how long it’ll take to fly from Johannesburg to Cape Town?”
The SAA agent replies, ‘Just a minute.’
‘Thank you,’ the blonde says, and hangs up.
A man is recovering from surgery when the Surgical Nurse appears and asks him how he is feeling.
‘I’m O. K. But I didn’t like the four letter-words the doctor used in surgery,’ he answered.
‘What did he say,’ asked the nurse.
‘Oops!’
A little boy went up to his father and asked: ‘Dad, where did my intelligence come from?’
The father replied, ‘Well, son, you must have got it from your mother, cause I still have mine.’
One day a man goes to a pet shop to buy a parrot. The shop assistant takes the man to the parrot section and asks the man to choose one. The man asks, ”How much is the yellow one?”
The shop assistant says, ”R2 000.”
The man is shocked and asks the assistant why it’s so expensive.
The assistant explains, ”This parrot is a very special one. He knows how to use a computer and can type really fast.”
”What about the green one?” the man asks.
The assistant says, ”He costs R5 000 because he knows how to use the computer, type fast and can answer incoming telephone calls and takes notes.”
”What about the red one?” the man asks. The assistant says, ”That one’s R10 000.” The man says, ”What does HE do?”
The assistant says, ”I don’t know, but the other two call him boss“