- More than 150 000 activities completed

In accordance with the planned shutdown schedule and after more than a year's planning, Sasol Synfuels decommissioned a portion of its Secunda operations on Friday, 27 August 2010, for a period of three weeks, executing their biggest shutdown ever With approximately 14 500 additional workers employed and over 150 000 activities completed, the Secunda shutdown is regarded as the biggest of its kind in the world.
 
A statutory requirement for petrochemical industries across the globe, all equipment must be shut down for inspection and repaired in accordance with a pre-planned schedule. During a shutdown, equipment is overhauled to ensure both process and equipment integrity, while maintaining safety as the highest priority. Shutdowns of this nature result in long term stable operations and are vital to Sasol's sustainability.
 
During the shutdown, the work completed was equivalent to servicing half a million motor vehicles. Parked bumper to bumper, the line would stretch from Secunda to Cape Town and back. Work included welding, mechanical, electrical and instrumentation activities.
 
Safety remains the first priority during such a huge project and this year Sasol Synfuels can look back at the safest shutdown in their history.
 
Employment
 
Due to the magnitude of this shutdown, 14 500 job opportunities were created for the period, with over 100 external service providers, contractors and sub contactors involved. A limited number of international expert artisans were hiredto assist in specialized areas. During this period Sasol Synfuels injected more than R500 million into the local industry for the provision of services and resources to do the necessary maintenance work.
 
To ensure the safety and compliance of its permanent and temporary employees and service providers, Sasol, in conjunction with the requirements of the Department of Labour and the Metal Engineering Industry Bargaining Council (MEIBC), performed daily site inspections as well as a host of monitoring and auditing activities.
 
Social Implications
 
The large number of additional workers meant a dramatic influx of people into the Govan Mbeki Municipal area. This resulted in increased business opportunities for the community, catering for the needs of the shutdown workforce. All the available public accommodation in the Secunda areas was fully occupied during this period and Sasol needed to accommodate 3 900 shutdown employees in their own and arranged facilities.
 
The positive attitude of the local community played a major role in making the shutdown a success. The service and hospitality industry welcomed the influx of visitors during this period and made them feel part of the community.
 
Operational
 
To enable a shutdown of this size, it is necessary to obtain additional equipment and resources. Some interesting statistics on this include:
 
26 400 rigging activities
310 additional rigging teams (consisting of a rigger and a helper)
185 additional cranes
109 mobile compressors
106 mobile generators
“It truly takes an enormous team effort, dedication, commitment, and passion from all stakeholders to see such a huge task through to the end. As such, Sasol would also like to humbly thank the local community, service providers and families for their involvement and support to safely and successfully complete such a challenging initiative,” said Lionel Prinsloo, General Manager Engineering at Sasol Synfuels
 
“In addition, I would like to take this opportunity to thank The Department of Labour (DOL) and the Metal and Engineering Industries Bargaining Council (MEIBC) who were critical stakeholders in the shutdown planning, execution and post-mortem. At Sasol safety will always remain the number one priority,”

Maintenance on cooling tower.

Welding during shutdown.