EDITOR – We stay in Pinetown, just of Caversham Road and the Hagart Industrial Park is right next to our residential area.
There is a factory, Joekels, that has extractor fans that constantly drone away 24/7. They not only pollute the area with their constant noise but also with the product that they constantly extract. They also have a high pressure air system that constantly releases bursts of high pressure every 20 to 30 seconds.
The short of the story is that they create heaps of unpleasant noise. We have no peace and quiet in our own homes as all you can hear are the extractors humming in the background. I have taken the matter up with the environmental heath department, the zoning department in the municipality and also more recently, Bruce Sutcliffe, the ward councillor of our area. They have all taken the matter up and agreed with us that there is a noise. They have all met with the factory’s owners and then after that, they just ignore us and the health department went from saying that there was noise being emitted from the factory to saying that there was no noise at all.
When the health department first got involved, they went to the wrong side of the factory and they have based their whole report on the side of the factory that faces Haagart Road and not the side that faces our area where all the extractors are. This affects the three houses along side the factory and the others in the area are not as badly affected as our houses act as deflectors. We have spoken with the factory and they have no interest in helping out.
Richard Stewart
Pinetown
Joekels repsonds:
Firstly, Joekels Tea Packers is a responsible business that strives to operate within all applicable legal parameters, inclusive of the requirements of SANS 10103 and local municipal bylaws.
The issue of noise emanating from our process was initially brought to our attention in 2013 by an environmental health practitioner, Mr Patrick Vuzi Nzuza, via residents in the vicinity of our factory. A large sum of capital was invested in structural changes in September 2013 to minimise the effect of our processes on the noise levels in the surrounding environment. The problem was resolved through direct communication with the residents (Mr Stewart included), Mr Tim Brauteseth (ward councillor for the area at that time) and the environmental health department in conjunction with The Highway Mail. There was also a follow up done with the residents concerned via The Highway Mail to ensure that the measures put into place were effective. I also personally contacted Mr Stewart at his place of work to confirm if he was satisfied with the outcome of the measures taken, which he was.
Baring in mind that October, November and December are some of our busiest months, there were no further complaints until January 2014 with regards to noise from the factory after the article “Factory puts lid on mystery noise” published by The Highway Mail dated 1 October 2013.
A meeting was held between myself and Mr Alan Norrie (a senior environmental health practitioner) in January 2014 with regards to the complaint he received from Mr Stewart. An environmental noise survey was carried out by an approved inspection authority in January 2014. Measurements were taken at the same 5 points during the day and during the night. 3 points where measurements were taken fell within our factory’s boundaries. 2 points where measurements were taken were on either side of Caversham Road (of which one point was in the immediate vicinity of Mr Stewart’s property.
The average of the measurements taken during the night in the immediate vicinity of Mr Stewart’s property was above the legal parameter (50dB) by 1.4dB. Joekels thereafter built an insulated unit around the dust extraction motor, as promised in article “Frustration brews over tea factory noise”, dated 11 February 2014, published by the Highway mail in order to comply with the legislated limit of 50dB.
After the installation of the insulated unit around the dust extraction motor, further testing was conducted in March 2014 by an approved inspection authority and all measurements were within compliance. Copies of these reports were handed to Mr Allan Norrie for reference. Upon receipt of the report, Mr Norrie on behalf of the environmental health department also conducted a noise survey where he reported that the measurements were within legal parameters.
Also to clarify a statement made in Richard Stewart’s letter to the editor dated 07 November 2014 in which he stated that the owners of the Joekels factory had met with the environmental health department, the zoning department and Bruce Sutcliffe, I would like to confirm that no such meeting took place.
As I have stated on numerous occasions prior to this, Mr Stewart is welcome to contact Joekels directly concerning the issues he has and the reports mentioned above will be made available to him for his perusal.
We, at Joekels will continue to investigate and implement, where possible, measures to ensure that the impact of our operation on the community is minimised.
Rad Gericke
Operations Manager
