juwi Renewable Energies has achieved an unprecedented 1,006,793 Lost Time Incident (LTI) free hours to end of February 2020 in the construction of the 78MW Bokamoso Solar Park situated near Leeudoringstad in the North West Province of South Africa.
“This milestone figure of 1 million LTI free hours translates to 125,000 LTI free days. This is equivalent to 125 people working on a remote site for a period of 1,000 days, without incident or harm to anyone; I believe this achievement is unprecedented in the RE space in SA,” said juwi CEO, Greg Austin.
An Engineering, Procurement and Construction (EPC) and Operation & Maintenance (O&M) contract was awarded to juwi in respect of the Bokamoso Solar Park pursuant to REIPPP (Renewable Energy Independent Power Producer Procurement Programme) Round 4.
Austin says that the LTI milestone was achieved because of the tremendous duty and care of the juwi site management team and the excellent cooperation of labour on site: “Our first priority in the construction phase is health and safety of all personnel on site. Without a healthy, fit and competent labour force – at all levels of the project teams – we would not be able to achieve our targets nor ensure that the overall personnel are able to enjoy the benefits of their efforts.”
juwi EPC construction manager, Jacques Botha, explains: “We have strict procedures and standards in place to create a safe working environment, where everyone feels safe and completes their tasks in the correct safety gear. We have reached this achievement by creating an environment where everyone looks out for their co-workers and peers.”
“This is also a great achievement because at the start of this project we were working with the local communities and some people who had very limited work experience and little safety awareness. By implementing the correct safety procedures and standards, and by creating a ‘safety awareness’ environment, we were able to reach over 1 million LTI free hours. We want to make sure that everyone goes back to their families safely.”
