Insulation contractor Kaefer has been awarded a contract by local construction contractor Murray & Roberts to erect scaffolding during the construction of State-owned power utility Eskom’s Medupi coal-fired power station.
Kaefer MD George Wardrope says that, in line with government’s Accelerated and Shared Growth Initiative for South Africa (Asgisa), and included as part of the scaffolding contract’s stipulations, 126 employees are to undergo training to meet the Asgisa requirements.
Training is done on site and candidates will receive Construction Education and Training Authority-approved scaffolding certificates, which will help them to take their ?proven skills to other jobs in the future. ?“We also intend to employ black women on site to assist with the scaffolding. It is a great opportunity to empower women to gain skills and perform work that was previously mostly ?reserved for men,” he says.?
Kaefer’s Power Projects business unit manager Martin Kruger says that it is impossible to estimate the total amount of scaffolding which will be required at the site at this stage, but that it could be up to 6 000 t at the peak of the contract. ?It will involve erecting scaffolding from the ground up, as well as suspending hanging scaffold from the structure itself at heights of up to 100 m.
He expects that the amount of erected scaffolding will reach its peak during the final phase of the project, when electrical and ?instrumentation technicians and other artisans need to gain access to the structure. ?The largest obstacle to be overcome is the challenge of getting all the material on site for the erection of the scaffolding.
Kruger says that the power ?station’s coal-fired boilers are in excess of 110 m high and a lift shaft has already been constructed to a height of 119 m for the installation of a permanent lift. Next to the lift is a 100-m-high emergency stairway, connecting five levels.
The scaffolding contract is ?expected to extend to the end of 2014, when the last generator unit is to be commissioned. Kruger adds that Kaefer has all the resources necessary to ?honour the contract and will not use labour brokers for additional ?labour.
“We prefer to use our own permanent staff and, where necessary, hire ?labour on a contract basis. This gives the ?labourers a greater degree of job security and allows us to train them,” he says.
However, Kaefer Energy Projects marketing manager Glenn Barry points out that, owing to the HIV/Aids pandemic, the company has to manage its workers carefully. ?He says that, with a contract spanning three years to four years, such as the Medupi project, and with the large numbers of transient labour mostly staying in single-sex ?accommodation camps, HIV/Aids will be a major threat to the wellbeing of the workforce. ?To this end, Kaefer established its HIV/Aids relief programme, known as Karp, in 2005, to educate and manage infected employees.
Barry believes that up to 25% of all ?employees on the project could be HIV positive. “Through Karp, HIV positive employees are provided with comprehensive treatment and care packages and there is a site office at the Medupi construction site to help ?administer the programme to employees,” he concludes.
Edited by: Brindaveni Naidoo
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