The Employee’s responsibilities shall include, among other things, the following:
Effluent water treatment plant:
The treatment plant forms the central hub of the sewage system and resultant irrigation. We use the water to irrigate as, due to us not having a sewage infrastructure to remove the sewage from the farm, once recycled, we would either have to have the water removed from the farm at our cost or make use of it. It currently irrigates our olive patch and berm area.
Responsibilities:
- Ensure constant operation of the treatment plant
- Facilitate the servicing once a year including belts and oil for the compressors
- Daily checks of the roti-strainer, sand filters, UV lights, control panels and other systems and provide a checklist which is filed
- Ensure pumps are functioning which include sump pumps at the deli, glass house, security control room and central shed unit
- Ensure irrigation pumps leaving the unit are operational
- Flush irrigation drip lines are flushed and operational
- Respond to alarms when activated 24hrs a day
- Co-ordinate Emmex or similar supplier remove sludge twice a week
- Co-ordinate monthly water samples and file results
- Co-ordinate soil probes at irrigation points
Farm and hotel irrigation:
As the irrigation forms part of water handling, control and quality throughout the farm, this too will fall under sustainability.
Responsibilities:
- Daily checks of the irrigation systems, including pumps, boreholes, filter banks, DSV drives, 129 irrigation stations around the property, irrigation systems at the manor house as well as vineyards, turf valves, drip lines etc
- Adjust watering schedules according to season, daily heat and rain patterns
- Facilitate the repair and replacement of faulty parts, sprinklers, dripper heads etc
- Ensuring good landscaping management
Boreholes:
Our boreholes assist us in greatly reducing the cost of water the farm requires to operate. They operate approximately 12 hours a day and therefore require a fair amount of maintenance and “supervision”. We have 5 in total, 3 on the farm side and 2 on the vineyard side of the property.
- Daily flow rate checks, digital gauge checks pertaining to volume pumped
- Check cutoffs are functional to ensure shut off at low water level
- Consultation with GIOS who monitor the boreholes and send monthly report of the yield
- Facilitate maintenance on the pumps themselves
- Ensure compliance and water licences for the bore holes are maintained
Complete water articulation system:
The complete water articulation system includes the following components:
- Boreholes
- Pumps
- Golf reservoir, fire reservoir and backup fresh water reservoir
- Water percentage allocators
- Actuator valves
- Farm dam
It is imperative for the survival of the vineyard, farm lawns, golf course, fire protection, olives and current and future flowers and fauna including the herb garden (to be detailed later)
Responsibilities:
- Daily checks systematically on the flow of water
- Check dam levels at the farm and manor house
- Run pumps
- Ensure servicing of pumps and replacement/repair of any leaks on the lines
- Monitor water usage and report on changes or concerns
- Provide a monthly report on water usage and ways to improve or lower costs of our water usage when council water is involved
Recycling:
Recycling includes aspects such as paper and cardboard, tins, glass, and other physical waste products and then involves food waste and plant/lawn cuttings.
Responsibilities:
- Managing and evolving the recycling center to be profitable and reporting on volumes and profits
- Weighing up self-recycling versus outsourcing and the benefits of each
- Ensuring food waste is sorted and used in the worm farms
- Reporting yield of compost liquids used in areas such as the olives and harvest garden
- Ensuring the health of the worm farms
- Providing monthly reports on recycling and harvest garden yields
- Evolving the use of wood cuttings and garden waste to produce compost for the flowerbeds and olives
Workers village and general staff progression
Responsibilities:
- Co-ordinate and ensure the smooth running of the creche, after-school program, and facilities of each
- Report to the facilities manager on the state of repair of the buildings at the worker's village
- Take the lead from the Hazendal social worker to address issues affecting the residents, children, and staff
- Co-ordinate with security regarding bad or unwanted elements affecting the above and arrange removal or remedy
- Suggest programs and courses to encourage natural progression and employment opportunities for the young adults residing at the worker's village
- Promote subsistence farming and support residents on farming to both supply themselves sand neighbors as well as increase environmental awareness and skills development
Compliances:
Hazendal push for certain compliances relies heavily on sustainability.
Responsibilities:
- IPW process management and reporting
- WIETA compliance management and reporting
- VULA wetlands management and ensuring compliance and rehabilitation
Solar:
Hazendal’s constant push for renewable energy has resulted in the installation of a 400kw “solar farm” and a further roof 100kw rooftop installation. We plan on further expanding this to include the Hotel “off the grid” project and solar carports.
Responsibilities:
- Ensure productivity levels of the panels, monitoring and addressing issues of reduction in productivity
- Monthly reporting on cost savings and move to return on investment of the panels and inverters
- Ensure cleaning of the panels to ensure maximum production
- Daily inverter checks to ensure no error codes
- Maintenance of the step-up and step-down solar transformers
- Ensure landscaping under the panels is performed by the maintenance and grounds department
“A key skill, of being a Hazendal manager, will be maintaining team harmony and encouraging open communication and openness to feedback from the team.”
