Company achieves safety milestone at Medupi

JSE-listed construction giant Murray & Roberts awarded Kaefer the contract to provide all the scaffold services required for the boiler mechanical erection works on all six of the powers station's units in 2010, a contract that is expected to run through to 2014, Engineering News reports.

"There is a requirement to maximise the employment and training of local personnel wherever possible. It is crucial for us to train and prepare our crews to work carefully, as well as to emphasise a zero tolerance policy when it comes to safety violations," says KEP operations manager Martin Kruger. Kaefer currently has in excess of 350 personnel on site and about 2 500 t of scaffolding equipment has been used to date. This is the biggest project it has undertaken and also the most dangerous, with scaffolds as high as 107m.

The company has an impeccable safety record, making it the first choice for many in the energy conservation industry. "Our ISO 9001:2008-accredited quality system has been certified by the South African Bureau of Standards for the past 23 years and we are now proud to have achieved ISO 14001 and OHSAS 18001 accreditation as well," Kaefer MD George Wardrope told Engineering News. KEP is a black-women-owned company. It is classified as a Level 1 contributor as measured against the Codes of Good Practice on Broad-Based Black Economic Empowerment.

Read the full article on www.engineeringnews.co.za.