Managing hazards and risks within the workplace is an important aspect of Meatco’s philosophy in continuously ensuring the health and safety of its employees.

At the heart of every building's fire safety system, is a fire pump.

This device, which drives adequate pressure and additional water volumes to the fire protection system, including fire sprinklers, is the first line of defence against any emergency fire incident.   

Proper maintenance and testing of the system’s fire pump should be a priority to keep employees and the processing plant safe from harm in the event of a fire emergency.

A new fire pump was installed and fully commissioned at the Windhoek Factory during the month of June 2018.

Commissioning and testing was conducted at optimum performance under the watchful eye of the Technical Manager at the Windhoek Factory, Riaan Gerber.

A checklist to verify the overall operating condition of the fire pump includes:

·      Performing a visual inspection of system components in the pump room and ensuring that mechanical components haven’t degraded over time;

·      Performing a flow test of the pump at rated and peak flow volumes;

·      Comparing the results of new tests to previous tests and the original design criteria;

·      Ensuring that the pump components are properly lubricated;

·      Making sure that the fire pump is operational at all times for the safety of everyone.

Health & Safety Manager, Mieszko Thomas, said it was necessary for Meatco to commission a fire-line and fire pump to manage fire risk within the operation.

“Through this, the first phase has been completed which now allows for water to be pumped to all critical factory areas in case of an emergency fire situation,” Thomas said.

The emergency fire pump is an automatic diesel driven pump which is pressure regulated and automatically starts-up when a fire hydrant is opened along the fire line installed.

“It is designed to deliver 1650 litres of water per minute at 800kpa (kilopascal), although the main water supply is derived from the City of Windhoek’s (CoW) Municipal water supply line, we have made provision for two additional water storage tanks which accumulates up to approximately 190,000 litres of water which can be supplied for water emergency purposes,” Thomas concluded.