Housing in Southern Africa November 2015

Industry Buzz, Events & Products

Safety First…

T his includes one award that has consistently beenwon by a KZN MBA member for the past 10 years. The MBA North members who earlier this year won the MBA NorthRegional ConstructionHealth& Safety Awards, thenwent on to scoop national MBSAhonours inSeptember. The Joint Venture between Stefa- nutti Stocks and Basil Read for the Kusile Power Station took the top honour for the Kusile Power Station in the ‘Contracts over R500 million’ category. Belo & Kies Construction won the MBSA national award for the Newcaste Crossing Shopping Mall. Tiber Construction was awarded top honours for the Top Plant & Storage Yard at the company’s Village Deep yard, south of Johannesburg. Tiber’s achievement was the first time a MBA North member had man- aged to wrestle the national Top Plant & Storage Yard shield from a MBA KZNmember. The KZN province had ‘owned’ this category for the past Master Builders Association (MBA) North members received three national awards in the annual Master Builders South Africa (MBSA) Construction Health & Safety Awards for 2015. M BA North Executive Commit- tee member, Rose Ts’enase, chairpersonof the newWom- en's Forum, says the objectives of the new Forum includes: To collectively share knowledge and transfer skills and training among women who are MBANorthmembers so thatWomen’s Forummembers can more meaning- fully target government and private sector projects for new business. To identify and source ‘enterprise development’ opportunities within MBA North for Forum members. Toorganisementorshipandcoach- ing fromwell-established companies in the building industry, promote social responsibility and networking

The Tiber Construction team from left to right: Michael Nysschen, Peter Tyrrell, Caroline Chauke, Hilton Chauke, Mario de Carvalho and José Correia, Managing Director.

also included encouragement and assistance fromtopmanagement. We now intend holding on to the MBSA Shield for this category for many years to come,” de Carvalho added. Mohau Mphomela, Executive Di- rector of MBA North, said MBA North members hadmade significant prog- ress in raising their OHS levels to na- tionally acclaimed levels in the past few years. “This is most gratifying, not only for the awards won in the process, but also because it shows that our members are clearly aware that the health and safety of their employees are worth more than any financial gain frombuilding projects. We commend the MBSA competi- tion winners and feel sure that the MBA North regional competition next year will again produce national winners.” The MBSA National Construction Health&Safety Awards are sponsored by Federated Employers’ Mutual Assurance Company (FEM). ■ delays in payment from clients, and the absence of support from the big existing contractors. The industry has always been male-dominated so women tend to be less experienced. The result is that women often lose business to male contractors in the sector.” “It is commendable that the MBAs encourage members to award sub- contracts to emerging contractors, but it should be to emerging or small contractors who are MBA members. Themajor contractors should contact MBAs for the names of small contrac- tors with experience and skills and award sub-contracts to such accred- ited MBA members,” she stated. ■

decade. Tiber Contracts Director, Mario de Carvalho says that the company’s success was achieved after many years of constant striving to adhere to all the prescribed Health and Safety requirements. “It’s been frustrating because there were a few years when we apparently had just narrowly missed out on top national honours in this category. This year we were determined to grab the ac- colade.” He said some of the steps at the plant and storage yard included the installation of new lightning protec- tion; fitting of new large extraction fans near the workshop area to pro- tect workers from gas, fumes, dust and vapour; and testing the yard’s noise level to ensure that the staff’s hearing was not endangered. “The Tiber yard personnel all took a per- sonal interest in the facility’s Health and Safety campaign and gave the initiative their full support. It was, in fact, a massive team effort that as well as encourage more young women to enter the building industry. Ts’enase heads up Bashoeshoe Construction and says that many women are now passionate about affecting change in the construction industry. Women are making inroads with a current average Construction In- dustry Development Board (cidb) Grading of 5 for the cidb Contractors Register. “There is one woman who has achieved a cidb Grade 9 Status. Women face some severe challenges such as a lack of effective develop- ment support through restricted access to finance, skilled resources,

Gender equality in construction sector

November 2015