S for scaffolding, S for SHEQ

SGB-Cape, a division of WACO Africa, was honoured with its third Green NOSCAR award at the ceremony held in May.

Long hours, small amounts of sleep and a lot of hard work is what it takes to win a NOSCAR, according to Reinhardt Coetzee, national HSE manager for SGB-Cape. SGB-Cape’s Richards Bay division was honoured with its third Green NOSCAR award at this year’s award ceremony held in May.

A division of WACO Africa, SGB-Cape is the largest ‘all-in-one’ service provider of scaffolding, insulation, industrial painting and related services in South Africa. The core business is the provision of access scaffolding on a contract basis, with a dominant market focus on power stations, refineries, steel and petro-chemical plants, construction and building projects, maritime repairs and other industrial installations. It is therefore clear how seriously the company needs to take issues of SHEQ.

“Good SHEQ practice is the foundation on which we do our work,” says Coetzee. All the organisation’s employees are given training on the various skills and HSE requirements needed for them to work in an effective manner. “It was a strategic decision made during 2006 to have SGB-Cape start a full HSE programme,” continued Coetzee. Quite obviously, it is paying dividends.

SGB-Cape, whose head office is in Elandsfontein, Johannesburg (from where most financial, marketing, purchasing, training and human resource functions stem), has branches throughout the country in Secunda, Vanderbijlpark, Boksburg, East London, Cape Town, Mossel Bay, Durban, Richards Bay, Port Elizabeth and beyond our borders in Zambia, Saudi Arabia, Namibia and Madagascar.

SGB-Cape also values working closely with its clients to provide viable, innovative solutions and operates up-to-date CAD systems. Design services and drawings are quickly disseminated to the relevant branches to ensure prompt reaction times to customer requirements.

Further, SGB-Cape also offers Scaffolding Skills Training courses, which are registered with the Department of Labour and is an  accredited with the Construction Sector Education Training Authority (Construction Education Training Authority) and the Department of Education (all courses are registered for 10 learners). These courses span topics such as Scaffolding Erector of Aluminium Towers; Scaffolding Erector of Interlocking Towers; Scaffolding Erector of System Towers; Scaffolding Erector Module 1; Scaffolding Fixer Module 2; Scaffolding Hand; Basic Scaffolding Safety Control & Inspection; and Scaffolding Safety Control & Inspection.

In addition to access scaffolding and specialised scaffolding SGB-Cape’s extended portfolio of service offerings include hot insulation, cold insulation, asbestos removal, turbine spray insulation, acoustic insulation, industrial painting, specialised coatings, cladding, grit/ultra-high water and vacuum blasting.

It is clear SGB-Cape wholly approaches its business with professionalism and seriousness, and the NOSCAR provides further motivation. “It is something we are very proud of and it has made other employees work even harder to achieve the same levels,” says Coetzee.