Babcock has achieved more than two million working hours without a Lost Time Injury (LTI) on the Electrostatic Precipitator (ESP) refurbishment programme at Eskom’s Lethabo Power Station - an important milestone on one of the company’s most complex power generation refurbishment projects in South Africa.
The milestone reflects the disciplined planning, engineering expertise and strong safety culture required to execute complex work in a demanding operational environment.
Lethabo Power Station comprises six 618 MW generating units and forms an important part of South Africa’s electricity generation fleet. Designed to utilise low-grade coal from the New Vaal Colliery, the station requires exceptionally large ESP installations to manage its high ash burden.
The multi-unit refurbishment programme is upgrading these systems to support compliance with South Africa’s National Minimum Emission Standards and improve particulate emission abatement.
Babcock site execution commenced on Unit 6 in January 2024 and has since progressed across multiple generating units.
The work involves a range of technically complex and higher-risk activities, including demolition, structural refurbishment, heavy lifting and rigging, hot work, confined-space entry and work at height. Executing these activities safely requires detailed planning, effective supervision and close collaboration between engineering, project, SHEQ and site teams.
An LTI recorded during the first Unit 6 outage in March 2024 prompted a comprehensive review of the incident and the way subsequent work would be executed. Lessons were shared across the project and improvements incorporated into planning and site execution.
Since then, the team has completed more than two million working hours without another LTI while continuing to deliver against the project’s operational and quality requirements.
July 2026 also closed with zero fatalities, zero LTIs, zero medical treatment cases and zero high-potential near misses. This performance has been supported by proactive identification and management of risk, including the reporting and correction of unsafe acts and conditions.
Visible leadership has played an important role throughout the programme, with Babcock leaders regularly engaging teams on site, participating in toolbox talks and safety engagements, and reinforcing the importance of speaking up and looking out for one another.
“Two million safe working hours is an important milestone, particularly given the complexity of the work being undertaken at Lethabo. But the number itself is not the goal. What matters is what sits behind it - disciplined planning, people taking responsibility for safety and teams looking out for one another every day.”
Harold Meyer – Head of Projects - Engineering
The programme is now moving towards its final phase, following refurbishment work across Units 6, 3, 2, 5 and 4. The final scheduled outage on Unit 1 is expected to commence in October 2026.
As the project progresses, the focus remains on maintaining the same discipline and vigilance through every remaining activity.
The Lethabo programme demonstrates Babcock’s broader approach to lifetime engineering - combining engineering capability, practical site experience and disciplined execution to support customers in maintaining and extending the performance of critical assets.
For the Lethabo team, however, the immediate priority remains straightforward: deliver the remaining work safely, look after one another and finish well.
