Work Integrated Learning EXP115D

1. Construction may be a difficult place to
wonder in but with the right knowledge it is
a field of possibilities for growth
EXP 115D
Work Intergated Learning
216631544
S Ntuli

3. Table of Contents
Introduction to the assignment ............................................................................................................ 3
Task.............................................................................................................................................................. 4
Operations ............................................................................................................................................... 4
Co-ordinating........................................................................................................................................... 6
Tests.......................................................................................................................................................... 6
Reports................................................................................................................................................... 10
Challenges................................................................................................................................................ 11
Disputes ................................................................................................................................................. 11
Climate ................................................................................................................................................... 13
Risks....................................................................................................................................................... 13
Designs .................................................................................................................................................. 15
Politics .................................................................................................................................................... 16
Meetings.................................................................................................................................................... 16
Technical ................................................................................................................................................ 16
Site.......................................................................................................................................................... 17
Summary................................................................................................................................................... 18
References ............................................................................................................................................... 18
Forms......................................................................................................................................................... 18

4. Introduction to the assignment
With privilege I Sbusiso Innocent Ntuli Student No; 216631544 have been provided with
the opportunity to enhance my academic learning curve through site experience and
work integrated learning course offered by Tshwane University of Technology.
Noponde Business Enterprise was the company that has given me the opportunity to
enroll with TUT and the project at hand that was the installation of sewer and water
pipelines, The Upgrading of Tweefontein K Waste Water Treatment Works Phase 2 –
Water and Sewer reticulation Works – Work Package 1
The project consists of a network of water pipelines and sewer pipelines, all sewer lines
are designated with manhole codes 2MH and 3MH,
The scope of the work consists of:
 Clearing of the pipelines and pumpstation (15km)
 Laying and testing of water pipelines (7.5km)
 Laying and testing of sewer pipelines (6km)
 Laying and testing of sewer rising main (0.8km)
 Installation of water yard connections and meters (490 Houses)
 Installation of sewer yard connections (490 Houses)
 Construction of pumpstation complete with pumps, sewer pumps, guard house,
electrical works including Eskom transformer, stand by generator, etc.
The project commenced on the 12th June 2023 and it is set for completion on the 12th
June 2024 (12 month span for the entire project).

5. Task
Operations
Identifying routes and setting out of the proposed sewer line commenced on the 1st of
August 2023.
There were old Y12mm pegs which were hummered into the ground to show all the
sewer line manhole, water pipe juctions, bends and valves. Wraped with a danger tape
and marked with a permanent marker to identify wheather it was a sewer line or water
pipe line.
Upon clearing the routes we had to ensure that there was no disturbance of the currently
existing markers for upcoming residence stands and the proposed water pipe lines.
This meant that a we had to select people who were able to read drawings and be able
to identify the routes so that we do not remove our forms of references as to where the
new house boundaries were.
Knowing these boundaries would enable us to be effective when we do house
connections on both sewer and water pipe lines, however this does not mean we were
to work effectively without our challenges like disobidient individuals, members of the
community and wildlife itself.

6. This picture displays initial route that was
to be treched namely 2MH1.17 to
2MH1.18 which was to be excavated at
an estimated 4 meters deep.
The second picture might be significant
in illustration of how deep the trench
was.
The initial idea as suggested by the project manager was that excavations of the sewer
lines was to commence on the deepest trenches according to drawings, at this time it
was in co relation of the academic school holiday this would ensure that our deepest
trenches were to be excavated, prepared and pipe laying might all be finished before
school recess would end, through this idea this would reduce the amount of traffic that
was commencing to and from the nearby school by foot “Tweefontein Extension K FET
Secondary School”

7. Co-ordinating
A series of works are running congruently, and some depend on the other before they
can be executed, now the challenge that was posed by coordinating these works is that
the sewer line needs more time in its execution unlike the water line.
This meant that the series of water pipes routes that can be identified and worked
depended on the sewer line section that was complete since there is just a standard
measurement for the depth of the trench that can be excavated it therefore meant that
the excavation, preparation of the bedding and the pipe laying can commence a lot
faster than that of sewer line.
I was also tasked with help identifying house stands so all house connections can be
made on both pipelines, so non other than surveying for inverted levels to be excavated
I had to juggle between identifying stands, identifying pipeline routes (both sewer and
water), tracking productivity of both pipelines and reporting encroached houses and
other obstacles that were on the way of production.
Tests
There are a series of test that were to be conducted by the contractor, engineers, and
the municipality, where all the work done/pipe installation will be tested based on the
system be it water reticulation or sewer line.
There would be a scheduled meeting where the project manager would schedule a site
testing meeting with the resident engineers and municipality representatives who were
delegated by the municipality to this specific project, to test the complete section of work
and measure it according to the specific criteria of desire.
For water pipeline there was a pump testing machine where we would close one end of
the water pipeline with and endcap and brace the endcap against a steel bar driven into
the ground by hammer this would ensure that the water that was poured into the pipeline
that we were testing would not push the endcap under pressure.

8. The test machine would be turned on once the tested pipeline was filled with water and
we would have to check the amount of pressure the pipeline was given if it can maintain
it without kicking out of the compacted soil.

10. Of course, all test conducted would have
the presence of both our resident
engineers and the municipality
representatives.
In the case of water pipelines, we had to
pump the water and pressurize it for at
least 10 to 15 minutes to ensure that
there were no leaks or kickbacks.
The desired test pressure for the water
pipeline was 125 Kpa and above as per
requirements of the designs and the
approvement of the municipality.
Sewer pipeline on the other hand was not tested with an electrical machine, there was a
pump that was used where we would seal off all the house connections which were
available on that route and close the far end of the pipeline just before the point of the
manhole.

11. Manually pumping the pump to 250 or 350 Kpa then setting out a timer for 5 to 10
minutes the initial pressure should remain the same after 5 minutes and above this
would ensure that the sewer pipeline does not have any leaks upon asking why.
Both water pipelines and sewer pipelines would be signed off by the residential
engineers under the inspection of the municipality representatives and a check list would
be kept for record this should prevent full construction by the contactor without the
knowledge of the engineers and municipality.
Reports
My most important reports to the company were conducting a survey on how many
houses have already been built, how many houses had encroached upon the land which
we were responsible in conducting work in.
Identifying the most efficient routes for both sewer and water pipelines without creating a
clash and overlapping between the two tasks.
Identifying the most disturbed routes by external works done by the subcontractors who
were responsible for the installation of Eskom electric poles and cables.
Reporting site adjustments that were done and the progress of how they have affected
productivity of the whole project.
The amount of work force against the amount of productivity delivered on site along with
arising challenges on site.
Paring with a coworker along the surveyors to identify routes and pegs which have been
tempered with, sometimes it might be pegs for house stands and some routes we were
unable to identify.
Helping and learning in rounding up the project requirements such as work hours,
filtering potential subcontractors and creating proposed bills of quantities for
subcontractors.
The usage of materials onsite and other utilities such as plant management and site
requirements.

12. Alignment of new implementations for site to redirect the productivity of site with the
work program, analyzing the parts of the project that were due and the amount of time
and resources available to it, the delays, and the counter solutions to the delays.
Challenges
Disputes
The are several challenges both personally and in the workplace the biggest challenge
we have current faced was the issue of current household within the workplace there is
several houses that are inhibiting the progression of the project, 42 houses to be more
precise this issue has not yet been resolved as it is that all houses that are current built
are on the way where the proposed sewer lines.
This encroachment problem has been a challenge which we were not able to deal with
fully although we have made a few alterations to the initial designs with the help of
acquiring the number of encroached houses.
These houses were segregated in their respective issues the ones that can avoided all
in all and the ones where we had to suggest new routes to avoid and the ones that the
only solution available is to resolve to demolition, though we have not carried through to
this method as of yet we are awaiting for further solution from the municipality.
Upon consultation with these households I have experienced that a lot of the are very
lenient toward the project taking its course though they are insistent on knowing when,
where and how their houses will be affected and under whose authority and financial
liability, this of course does not apply to all of them some of them are making steep
demands as to how much are we willing to compensate them for demolition.
In most cases that is to be expected but the most obscene scenario we have witnessed
came through illegal encroachment where an elder man who is a resident in the place
neighboring village Vlaklaagte no 1 who currently has illegally encroached a sum of 7
stands located within his yard which has a kraal made a demand that if we were to work
on his yard he must be compensated with a sum of 1.5 million rands as he owns that
pard of land but when ever he was asked to provide proof of ownership he sated to us

13. that it was a verbal agreement between him and the late Chief of Tweefontein Extension
K.
According to the municipality there are no services within the area at which we are
working but upon excavation we have met a lot of unknown services such as water
reticulation system that was stopped along time ago. According to the community there
once was a construction project that was kicked out by the community, they we installing
75mm pvc pipes for water reticulation, this we stumbled upon when we were excavating
a trench for a sewer line 2MH6.1 to 2MH6.2 and we accidentally damaged the pipe with
an excavator.
Due to the unknown ability that it might have water during the weekend we had to
replace the damaged water pipe and internet cables just in case it was operational,
fellow residents imply that they have water scarcity issues, if and when they get water it
is usually on weekends and we did not want to test whether the pipe line was sufficiently
moving water during the weekends.

14. Some of our most challenging dispute was the fact that the company was appointed this
project that was running congruently with another project of another subcontractor that
was responsible for the installation of electrical poles on which most of their poles was
either on our way and majority of them were located exactly where we had manholes
this limited the amount of work we could deliver and we tried by all means to resolve it
with them but that was not successful, alternatively our engineers suggested that we
could slightly shift our sewer routes and water routes. There are 17 electric poles that
were in our way and 4 of them are located on our manholes.
Climate
Within the past 6 month that I was invested in this construction project we have had all
forms of challenging weather from the hottest climate to the coldest one.
There are days that we not even covered such as when was the wind blowing the
fastest, however we have witnessed a series of rainy days that would counter play our
productivity.
Whenever there were rainy days, we had to ensure that on the following day we would
do a site visit, a group of individuals including the supervisor, foreman, safety
representative and the project manager.
This group was eligible to determine whether the environment was of a desired criteria
so that people/ employees could work.
On average this would slow down the construction rate by 2 to 3 working days
sometimes even more judging from the amount of raining days prior to our inspection.
Risks
Trenches are not so much of a troubling task to deal with but however the moment they
are excavated between 2 to 5 meters on different soil conditions and types with a later
chance that people are supposed to walk up and down in the trench it becomes a safety
caution that is not to be avoided.

15. With only two step ladders in trenches that are between 60 to 100 meter long there
would be a group of 6 to 10 individuals inside, should there be any change in subsoil
stability and water content.
Such risks were to be mitigated with very viable solutions such as battered slopes on the
sides of the trenches, and careful inspection was to be done once there was rain and
any other heavy machinery that was nearby.
There were other hazards that were part of the project, but we left to the community at
large such as livestock and children, on may cases we have alerted the two surrounding
schools and the community not to permit any children to be seen playing near the
trenches during the times we were not on site such as weekends, holidays and other
days we were to deem the site insufficient working conditions.

16. That did not yield our desired results as we were constantly reprimanding kids on a daily
basis about the environment, they think its good play ground.
In other trenches the water table was so high that the trenches were filled with water, to
kids that was the ideal swimming place as we heard a few rumors that during the
weekends it was a swimming resort to kids, be it that the trenches was at least 1.7m
deep with the water filling up to 1.2m of the trenches.
Safety nets and barricades were nothing to kids, so we had to develop a quick method
to deal with the water and install the pipes as soon as possible.
Designs
Not all designs are in correlation with how things are on site.
We have witnessed several cases where at a certain point we had to bring the entire site
on halt as to why the designs we not in alignment with the actual site layout, commonly
we had curved roads on the designs that were not like that on site and vise verse.

17. We would constantly get updated on other issues associated with design changes and
other missing details in the designs, this meant that we had increase our level of
accuracy with both our abilities to read the designs and the delivery of our surveying
levels as to how where and when we are having what inverted levels on the trenches
this in turn forced the company to purchase another dumpy level so me and my superior
supervisors could cover a lot more work but with reduced speed on each individual but
yield higher levels of quality work.
Politics
The project is liable to a main contactor with a proposition of 8 to 12 subcontractors, the
company along with the engineers and the municipality representatives have come to a
decision of electing 8 subcontractors of different CIDB gradings (3 Grade 2 GB, CE and
5 Grade 1 GB, CE).
Although the decision of the elected 8 companies was made anonymously and kept a
secrete there are individuals that elect to usage of construction mafia tactics to be
forcefully awarded tenders, this king of behavior is very common in construction but I
reserve my right to believe that such acts of vitious and cruel manners is instigated by
politicians who have made friends with individuals from the municipalities, this kind of
friendship has awarded them with the knowledge that gives them an edge on the
tenders. Should it be that they are not elected, and the main contractor stands firmly on
their decision of election they will threaten lives and will initiate strikes from the
community under the impression that the main contractor does not serve the community.
That however is my view, I understand that there are other dynamics that are involve
within the construction mafia and it is a deadly game I wish not to partake on.
Meetings
Technical
There were technical meetings that were held at specific dated that were prescheduled
from the project span and progress, however there were other meeting that would also
fall under technical meetings that would be scheduled by either the construction

18. manager, consulting engineers and the municipality all meetings were pre preplanned
with aligning problems and difficulties that would arise upon construction.
All meetings are held in the presents other unmentioned individuals such as the
community liaison officer, the project facilitator, the health and safety representatives
from the municipality and the chancellor.
Dates of all technical meeting held;
 12 June 2023
 20 July 2023
 22 August 2023
 19 September 2023
 17 October 2023
 21 November 2023
 05 December 2023
There will be other meetings that will be held during the course of the year 2024 but they
have not yet been scheduled.
Site
These were commonly held every now and then, depending on the types of challenges
that were on site we would commonly re arrange our crew as to which members are fit
and experienced enough to deal with the tasks at hand.
These meant a lot of changes and coordination among the work team and in certain
cases we had to improvise by recruiting more skilled and general labours that we
available form the community.
Toolbox talks can be classified as site meetings, but they are not so intense as we get to
address a lot of safety concerns and motivation here and there as it was more of a
psychological matter where we had to motivate employees about the needs of being
sober at all times especially after long weekends and weekdays after payday.

19. Summary
There are a number of challenges and other obstacles that were insight and some I had
to learn through being part of the project, although the majority of things that I was
learning I had acquired the theory through the institution during my first year and I have
witnessed that with a great understanding of your first year work a lot of the work
integrated learning that is given to me are some of the pieces to the puzzle.
Some content that was made available to me by the project manager and the engineers
went through a long way to off putting the balance, that was not instilled in me such as
price estimations and other forms of certificates that I had not understood thus this far.
References
Noponde Business Enterprises
Matshego Engineers
Forms