Civil Engineering August 2021 | Vol 29 No 7

42 August 2021 Civil Engineering Dr John Sampson receives Distinguished Fellow of the SATC Award Dr John Sampson, an ex-Partner and now consultant to JG Afrika, received a Distinguished Fellow of the Southern African Transport Conference (SATC) Award at this year’s virtual event held from 5 to 7 July 2021. Sampson is one of only eight people to have received this prestigious award that also entitles him to an honorary life membership of the conference. Sampson received the award for the strong contri- bution that he has made towards the growth and suc- cess of the conference. Over the past 45 years he has chaired several of the events and break away sessions, as well as presented and reviewed conference papers. Sampson is a professional engineer with more than 50 years’ experience in transportation planning and traffic engineering. He joined Jeffares & Green (now JG Afrika) as a partner in 1990 and has remained with the company ever since, despite retiring as a partner twelve years ago. In 2003 he started Transportation and Traffic Technology Africa (TTT Africa) where, until recently, he acted as managing director. TTT Africa, now a subsidiary of JG Afrika, is a leading firm of transportation and traffic engineers with a robust track record, providing innovative and quality services to clients throughout Southern Africa. Sampson is a Fellow of the South African Institution of Civil Engineering (SAICE) and recipient of the 2007 Chairman’s Award for his outstanding service to the transportation engi- neering profession. He is also a Fellow of the South African Academy of Engineering and an Honorary Life Member of the Automobile Association of South Africa. “I am proud and honoured to have received this award from the SATC, a body that continues to provide a robust platform for transport and traffic professionals to share their ideas and best practice in the field. The conference has grown significantly over the years and the continued participation and support that it has received from many professionals annually has added to the overall body of knowledge in the field of transport. This will help overcome the many challenges that the continent is facing in terms of trans- port, without which economic growth is impeded, and business cannot prosper,” says Sampson. “To quote US President John F Kennedy, “Our roads are not good because America is rich, America is rich because our roads are good”. These days the word transport is substituted for roads, but the sentiment remains the same,” he concludes.  SAPPMA forms three newspecialist standing committees The Southern African Plastic Pipe Manufacturers Association (SAPPMA) recently announced the formation of three new standing committees. “Through forming these new SAPPMA standing committees we are able to better handle specific technical matters (such as standards, testing, application, etc.) and to arrive at sound practical resolutions based on research, knowledge and discussion. The underlying principle is making prog- ress in terms of the understanding, applica- tion and monitoring of standards, while at the same time ensuring resolutions remain practical, understandable and economical,” explains Jan Venter, CEO of SAPPMA. Small teams of experienced individuals make up the standing committees who meet in their own time and aim to arrive at resolutions within a reasonable period. Apart from being in regular contact and consulting with SAPPMA management, they are expected to report back on their activities at the combined quarterly member meetings where their resolutions are heard before they become part of SAPPMA’s standards, rules and policies. The new standing committees are: HDPE Committee George Diliyannis, Technical Service Leader at Safripol, heads up the HDPE Committee, supported by Lesley Geyser, QC Manager and Production Planner at The Rare Group. Current areas of focus include addressing issues relating to the mixing and contamination of polyeth- ylene, updating SAPPMA’s MFR docu- ment and addressing queries that relate to specific standards, namely SANS 21138 and ISO 4427:2019. PVC Committee Renier Snyman, Technical Manager at Sun Ace SA, chairs the PVC Committee with the support of Tanya van Rensburg, Production Co-ordinator of Eurocelt. Issues that are currently being ad- dressed include SANS 967 (strap-on saddles), SANS 966-2 (HSIT alternatives), SANS 1601 (sockets and seals) and queries regarding pipe lengths. IFPA (Installation and Fabrication Plastics Pipe Association) Committee Renier Pieterse, Director at Barona Pipelines and Fittings, is responsible for heading up the IFPA Committee which is currently working on a consultant’s document and training manual that will be made available to end-users and consulting engineers to enable them to call for the correct standards in tenders. They have also recently decided to remove the IFPA welder number from the welder certificates issued by Plastics SA and to add a reference field for a weld qualifica- tion attachment (i.e. welder test piece certificate) instead. SAPPMA will be forming more standing committees in the future, depending on the need and with the mandate to look at specific issues beyond the current focus and scope. Because the issues they address go beyond the scope of only its members, SAPPMA is inviting end-users and specifiers to also become involved in these working groups.  SAPPMA’s new standing committees focus on specific areas of the plastic pipe industry Dr John Sampson