The City’s Electricity Department’s Technical Support Services Branch is the first municipal entity with a division to win the annual national productivity award for the public sector.

The winners of this year’s National Productivity Awards were announced in Johannesburg on Friday 30 October 2009. Organised by Productivity SA, the annual awards recognise organisations that have improved productivity in a sustainable manner and with a major impact on society.

The City’s unit singled out for this top award is Electrical Support Services (ESS), a division of the Electricity Department’s Technical Support Services, which is based in Ndabeni. The unit provides services in civil and facilities management, capital projects, electrical installations, maintenance and repairs, transformer and switchgear refurbishment, and corrosion prevention management.

Since 2005, the ESS unit has been reviewing its processes, systems and procedures. In 2006 Pragma was contracted to establish an on-site Asset Care Centre. The ACC team helped the ESS team to identify Key Performance Indicators underscored by a formal measurement system, a detailed asset management strategy, and a comprehensive staff training and development programme. In 2008, ESS received the Silver award in the Asset Care Centre @ Client category, and received the top award of Gold in the same category in 2009.

ESS is the only electricity distribution entity in South Africa to be accredited against ISO 9001, 14001 and OSHAS 18001 and to then subsequently retain that accreditation a year later in 2009.

Frik Kirsten, Pragma ACC Manager and Floris Mostert, Head: Electrical Support Services