Keeping standards high to ensure companies stick to regulations

A lot of what really keeps SA's economy running works discreetly, like changing traffic lights. But even the "robots" in Johannesburg could benefit from independent supervision to function properly.

That's what Bureau Veritas, a 190-year-old French-based service provider that offers tests, inspections and certifications to global standards in quality, health and safety, environmental protection and social responsibility processes.

The group has global commercial divisions that include marinas and offshore, food and basic products, consumer products, construction and infrastructure and industrial certification. Recently, it announced offers of "new and improved" services in SA through industries that include the petroleum and petrochemical sector, and serve clients ranging from large global oil companies to PetroSA.

The company's metals and minerals division in southern Africa has implemented new tests that measure transportable moisture limits (TML). This refers to the maximum moisture content allowed for the safe transport of cargo that can be liquefied, which affects the stability of ships and can cause damage to ships.
the environment.

Bureau Veritas says that TML is fast becoming a global requirement. Previously, he offered the service outside of SA, but recently obtained approval from the global technical governance regulator to perform the tests in his Richards Bay lab. This means that response times are faster and rates are lower.

Erick Naidoo, who heads the group's petroleum and petrochemicals division in South Africa, says Bureau Veritas' core business is inspection and testing of bulk logistics. High pressures, high temperatures and dust affect diesel, gasoline and marine fuels in different ways.

"We make the understanding of technical reports very easy for companies so that they can continue with their main activity, we make sure that companies can compete," he says.

Marc Roussel, senior vice president of Bureau Veritas for raw materials, industry and infrastructure in Africa, says that SA is key to the company's African markets. "In our type of business, the maturity of an economy has a great impact, SA is a country where the legal environment and regulation are quite strong," he says. "If the economy were booming, it would be better."

SA's commodity markets have been affected by China's drought and lower appetite for minerals, and bitter relationships between the mining industry and government officials.

"We are finding more business outside the borders of SA - SA is declining for now," says Gavin Hefer, who heads the metals and minerals division of Bureau Veritas in South Africa.

The large contracts include Vale's metallurgical coal project in Mozambique.

Meanwhile, the group's agri-food division for southern Africa has announced the presentation of an automated laboratory in Cape Town for pesticide testing. This ensures that the latest legislation in SA can be fulfilled more quickly with the highest specifications.

The laboratory is also geared towards the rapid responses required by retailers and food suppliers to handle problems such as the Listeria outbreak in South Africa, where the identification and quarantine of the products must be managed quickly and effectively.

Nature's Choice, a distributor of healthy foods with more than 500 points of sale in South Africa and other parts of Africa, is one of Bureau Veritas customers in South Africa.

Emmanuel Binan, quality assurance manager at Nature's Choice, says Bureau Veritas offers annual audits over three-year cycles to provide ISO 22000 food safety certification standards for the manufacture, packaging and distribution of cereals, snacks, baked goods, substitutes for milk, vinegars and teas. dried fruits, and seasonings and sweeteners.

Bureau Veritas also provides audit and certification services for the internationally funded Square Kilometer Array (SKA) radio telescope that is being built in the Karoo. "We have a quality management system that complies with the ISO 9001 standard," says Nabiel Solomon, head of quality control for the SKA program. This standard provides a framework for managing the quality processes of an organization.

The SKA is headed by the Radio Astronomy Observatory of South Africa.