Erongo Desalination Plant celebrates seven years of no Lost Time Injuries

The Erongo Desalination Plant celebrated an incredible milestone of seven years with no Lost Time Injury (LTI). The celebration took place at the facility located near Wlotzkasbaken on Friday, 2 June. The plant was built to supply water to the Trekkopje Mine of AREVA Resources Namibia.
“This is our longest time period of any of our current operations without Lost Time Injuries. At one of our other operations we were one month short of eight years when we suffered a Lost Time Injury at one of the cold plants. That’s how quickly it can happen,” said Roy Malcolm, AVENG’s General Manager-Operations, addressing the staff members during the celebration. He added the workers should therefore never be complacent and never ever think it’s not going to happen to them.
“When you take your eyes off the ball that’s when things can go wrong.”
Malcolm further said accidents are unplanned and can happen in a split second. “You do not plan to injure yourself or some-body else. It is about being diligent, being awake and being aware of everything around you.”
The Erongo Desalination Plant is the largest seawater desalination plant in Southern Africa. It is operated by Aveng Water Treatment and was inaugurated in 2010. It currently produces 20 million cubic meters of desalinated water per year. AVENG Water Treatment’s safety system on all their processing plants is independently certified to be compliant to the international safety standard OHSAS 18001. This safety standard and on site safety culture is the cornerstone to this remarkable achievement.
The safety risks are certainly still present in that high-risk activities are being performed on a daily basis but the awareness of those risks by everyone as well as appropriate mitigation measures for those risks help prevent lost time injuries.