Sparks Electrical News April 2018

CONTRACTORS’ CORNER

10

ACTOM ATTAINS LEVEL 1 B-BBEE STATUS

NEARLY A CENTURY OF INNOVATION AND QUALITY

ACTOM, leading manufacturers, suppliers, re- pairers and maintainers of electro-mechanical equipment, has attained a Level 1 rating under the government’s revised Broad-Based Black Economic Empowerment (B-BBEE) regulations and amended Codes of Practice. The group, which attained the new rating on February 9 this year following auditing of its B-BBEE status by a SANAS-accredited verifica- tion agent for the financial year to end-March 2017, previously had a Level 3 rating. ACTOM is the only company in its industrial sector that currently enjoys Level 1 B-BBEE status. “The upgrading of the group to Level 1 is chiefly attributable to the advances we have achieved in Skills Development during the year under review, due to the extensive training that the group undertakes,” commented Mervyn Naidoo, ACTOM’s Group CEO. Skills Development is one of five key ele- ments on which companies are assessed for their B-BBEE ratings. In the latest audit AC- TOM also scored well on three of the other four key elements, namely Ownership, Enterprise & Supplier Development (ESD) and Socio-Eco- nomic Development (SED). The exception was the Management Control key element, where the group’s score was higher than for the previ- ous year but still fell short of the target score. Naidoo said that satisfactory progress continued to be achieved in promoting people of colour and women to junior management positions during the review year, as in recent years, but the group hadn’t succeeded in achieving similar advances in middle and W inter is approaching and with it, brings the inevitable likelihood of power outages. Many South African organisations are gearing up by in- vesting in alternative power solutions or, at the very least a UPS system to manage the safe shut down of systems in the event of an outage. It’s important, however, to ensure that the chosen solution is the best fit for the business – or it will fail when it is needed most. Selecting the best UPS to meet your requirements isn’t as simple as choosing one from a catalogue or going with the solution that works best for another company. Your business has unique requirements and there are a lot of factors that go into planning the right solution. These include calculating the exact power load and ensuring that there are not external problems which could impact the functionality of the system. Site surveys are often seen as unnecessary spending, however, UPS and generator power systems can be exorbitantly expensive, and the costs of site surveys are often negligible when weighted against the overall solution. The benefits of conducting a proper site survey extend beyond saving money on your solution. They can help identify inefficiencies in your business’s power environment, the correction of which could save you even more money. Proper site surveys are more than simply visiting a site and quickly assessing what equipment requires power backup before proposing a solution. Quick surveys may be able to determine what the electrical load is, but will not be able to detect underlying power problems, invisible to the naked eye. Nor can they assess any events which may impact power delivery. For example, an industrial machine may cause a large power drain when it is switched on, and such activities need to be catered for in the event of a power outage.

M ilwaukee, an industry-leading manu- facturer of heavy-duty, portable electric power tools and accessories for profes- sional users worldwide, distributed locally by Upat of Johannesburg, celebrates its 94th year in oper- ation this year. This is testament to the company’s commitment to innovation and quality in a range of industry sectors. Milwaukee Product Specialist Werner Koch notes that one of the major advantages of Mil- waukee is that it undertakes continuous market research to identify the power-tool requirements of its diverse end users. Once a specific tool has been developed, customer feedback is under- taken to ensure that all of these specific require- ments have been met, and even exceeded. Milwaukee can also provide bespoke tool solu- tions, with the company’s market segmentation focusing on core trades such as building and con- struction, heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC), plumbing and electrical, and metal- and wood-working, among many others. This segment-specific tool offering enables Milwaukee to create a larger product base than any other power-tool brand worldwide, which is the reason why it is able to cater for so many dif- ferent users and their unique needs. Milwaukee’s tools are built to last, owing to features such as compact brushless motors, in addition to gearboxes made from magnesium, and durable and heat-resistant material that extends the lifespan of the motor significantly.

Mervyn Naidoo, ACTOM Group CEO

senior management. Andries Mthethwa, ACTOM’s Deputy Chair- man, said the combined effect of the group’s Level 1 B-BBEE rating and its optimum black- empowerment shareholding status is to place it in the highest attainable position to do busi- ness with SOE’s and municipalities from the point of view of meeting their black empow- erment requirements. “In addition to this they also enhance our standing with other private sector companies, since they, like us, are ac- tively encouraged by the B-BBEE legislation to do business with accredited black-empowered companies to enhance their own B-BBEE standing with the authorities and hence the SOE’s,” he said.

“This all ensures that the battery can give users a 2 000-cycle lifespan, which is on aver- age five times greater than what other power tools can provide,” Koch stresses. Maintenance is minimal and mainly preventative, such as checking that all tools are dust-free and that batteries are fully charged. Other features designed to make work both safer and more productive include built- in shock absorbers, which also boosts the durability of the power tools, as well as anti- kickback or safety clutches. Particular atten- tion has been paid to safety, such as dead- man switches, while all battery-operated tools have built-in LED lights to illuminate the work area.

Enquiries: www.actom.co.za

Enquiries: www.upat.co.za

BACKUP POWER – WHY SITE SURVEYS ARE A WIN-WIN

ELPA TO EMPOWER LIGHTNING PROTECTION INDUSTRY SPECIALISTS

F rom designers through to installers and inspec- tors of lightning protection systems (LPSes), as well as electricians and electrical engineers, the Earthing and Lightning Protection Association (ELPA) is ensuring that it implements all programmes neces- sary in its quest to become South Africa’s recognised National Professional Body for earthing and lightning protection. ELPA national director Trevor Manas clarifies, “ELPA aims to assist with providing industry accreditations, certification, benchmarks for quality of design and installation, as well as information and education on lightning safety.” Having been officially established in June 2017, after two years of hard work by lightning protection industry experts from around the country, Manas says the umbrella body has already notched up a number of achievements. Certification exams “During 2017, we held two successful sets of certifi- cation exams for lightning protection installers,” Ma- nas outlines. “In January 2018, we followed this up with the introduction of accreditations for electricians who carry out surge protection installations. This new programme covers the proper selection, coordination and installation of surge protection devices (SPDs) to power supply systems, and we believe that electricians will gain extremely valuable guidance in this part of their scope of works. “At the same time, we launched our first designers’ accreditations, noting that the actual science of lighting protection really comes together in the lightning protection design. The designers’ course will follow a modular process: there are five parts to each module, and each module will take a month to complete.” More to come through the COC programme Other certification exams will follow in the first quar- ter of 2018, and are linked to the launch of the ELPA Certificates of Compliance (COC) programme in late 2017. Manas explains, “The COC programme is aimed at ELPA-accredited designers, installers and inspec- tors of LPSes. It entails the keeping of a register of designers and installers, as well as the inspector- ate whose members check the work being done by

Typically, a quality site survey should include monitoring your business’s electrical environment for at least seven days, factoring in the parameters relevant to the equipment being catered for (which should be confirmed before starting). This will give an overview of factors such as poor power factor (inductive) loads, voltage fluctuations, harmonics, transience and any patterns which may impact a backup power system. The surveyor should also inspect the electrical distribution within your site premises, tracing from the source of power to the load in order to check for any obvious flaws. These should be corrected before installing a UPS or taken into account with the proposed solution. Something as seemingly inconsequential as a bad power terminal can cause inefficiencies in the delivery of power to your entire organisation. It can also put unnecessary pressure on a UPS system. Once the seven day (minimum) evaluation is completed, and the parameters of both the existing and proposed environments are confirmed, the service provider should be able to produce a report on the power status of your business. This report should detail the requirements as well as suggest any recommended corrections to be done before a UPS is installed. A site survey will also equip the service provider with all the information needed to specify the perfect solution options to meet your requirement. In so doing, you will be protected, knowing that your chosen solution will work, and that accountability for an incorrectly specified solution rests with the service provider. It’s a win-win. By Kevin Norris, Consulting Solutions Ar- chitect: Renewable Energy, Jasco Intelligent Technologies.

the installers. To this end, another round of lightning protection installation certification exams took place in January, marking the third such set of exams since August 2017. We will also hold our first course for test- ers/assessors within the first quarter of the year.” Moving matters online Noting that much of South Africa is subject to high lightning ground flash density, with a consequent wide-ranging need for the installation of LPSes, ELPA is making use of online facilities for some of its courses. Manas says, “In a bid to nationalise our courses, we are introducing some online assessments, starting with the installation accreditation, which currently takes the form of a 90-minute written exam, followed by a face to face interview with the examiners while still on-site. We are now offering candidates an online examination, and then carrying out Skype interviews with them post exam. In this way, we can accommodate the substantial number of candidates from around South Africa who want to take our ELPA installation exam.” Over and above the LPS certification exams for designers, installers and inspectors, ELPA plans to spread its net wider still. “In order for participants to maintain their membership, we will be implementing a CPD programme,” says Manas. “We envisage an online element here too, and are exploring the use of webinars as a platform for the necessary learning to take place.” “It is tremendously satisfying to see ELPA, while technically still in its infancy as such a newly established organisation, already moving so quickly in our quest to achieve certainty through certification and compliance. I believe that, in the pursuit of becoming the recognised National Professional Body for earthing and lightning protection, it bodes well for the rest of 2018 that we are getting off to such a solid start,” Manas concludes. ELPA is supported by various institutions such as Wits University, the Electrical Contractors Association of South Africa (ECA) and the Department of Labour.

Enquiries: www.jasco.co.za

Enquiries: www.elpasa.org.za

SPARKS ELECTRICAL NEWS

APRIL 2018