Page 61 - SAPREF 50 year

Barriers? What barriers?
A refinery is predominantly a male dominated environment, which in the past stopped some females from making their mark at SAPREF. That has all changed ...
In 1997 Liziwe Mda became the first female Plant Unit Manager (Lubes) at SAPREF,
and in 2006 she became the first female Operations Manager.
Early in 2001, Lynelle Pennington became the first woman operator at the refinery.
Said Lynelle, “At first there were the usual
Mr Machos who said a woman would never manage, but they have got over it now. I have no trouble with the physical demands of the job. I come from a sporting background, so I enjoy using my strength as part of my work.”
In 2003, Lucia Govender, then a third- year production trainee, was the first female trainee to reach panel status for the SBM tanker discharge panel. And in 2010 she became the first female to be promoted to zone senior in Oil Movements, Utilities and Despatch.
In late 2009, SAPREF got its first female senior operator on a process unit. Pretty Dlamini started her career at SAPREF as a refinery trainee in 2004, and in 2009 passed her senior test and was operating the Cat Cracker panel on her own.
Pretty Dlamini, SHEQ Co-ordinator, standing, and Anele Mntambo, Trainee Process Technician, discuss process safety in the Control Room.
SAPREF Training Centre
The SAPREF Training Centre was officially opened 45 years ago. It was originally located on the ground floor in the main office building (where the C&P offices are), and it has moved to various locations over the years. Currently it is situated next to the SAPREF checkpoint.
The Training Centre has always loomed large in the development of SAPREF people, and not much has changed! It boasts five training rooms and three engineering workshops, with the electrical workshop
being the most recent addition. The electrical workshop consists of recent technology and training equipment and it was officially opened in May 2011.
The Training Centre delivers and manages all training for SAPREF staff and learners who are on learnerships. Our flagship learnership programmes are accredited by the Chemical Industries Education and Training Authority (Chieta). They include Chemical Operations, Electrical Engineering, and Mechanical Engineering and Instrumentation. An average
of 50 unemployed learners are enrolled
onto these programmes every year, thereby contributing significantly to the development of petrochemical skills in South Africa. In the past the Training Centre also used to be the centre for the SAPREF Saturday School programme,
but the programme has since been moved to schools in the community.
As if the development of petrochemical skills was not enough contribution to the
South African skills landscape, SAPREF also
has another training centre based in Isipingo, where we invest in artisan skills development for unemployed youth from the surrounding communities. Known as the Durban South Training Trust (DSTT) the centre trains youngsters in welding, boilermaking and mechanical fitting and is fully funded by SAPREF. The DSTT enrols an average of 80 learners a year in these fields and they are trained over three years to become qualified artisans.
In partnerships with our shareholders, SAPREF also offers training to BP and Shell employees in various aspects. One of the most popular courses is the Oil Cooking course, which is offered on an annual basis to the shareholders to provide them with knowledge of how the refinery operates.
Going forward, the Human Resources department faces the a mammoth task of making sure that SAPREF is properly resourced to face the challenges of the big projects on our horizon, and that employees are engaged and developed to meet our Vision 2018 objectives.
Trainer Sello Mbele, second from right, keeps an eye on trainee Pinto da Costa, right, and the other trainees, from left, Lungile Nkomo, Sandile Ntuli, Skhona Shange, Mxolisi Mchunu, Yolo Almeida and Ncamisile Mnyandu, with Paul Carter (background).
COMMEMORATING 50 YEARS OF EXCELLENCE
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