Rules were adopted from one of the most popular reality television series in the United States – “The Biggest Loser”. Before the competition the body weight of each participant was recorded. This was then used to calculate their Body Mass Index (BMI). The participants’ BMIs were then monitored on a weekly basis.

On 8th May the winners were announced. Gerrysil Felipe, Junior Quantity Surveyor, is officially Kentz’s “Biggest Loser” with a total weight loss of 12.6kg. Second place went to Henry Chiu, Senior Planning Engineer, after losing 8.7kg, followed closely by Vasim Ali, Project Administrator. Vasim lost 8.2kg. They were presented with certificates of recognition and cash prizes.

The competition was a massive success and the project’s HSE team are now looking forward to more fun HSE projects. Congratulations to all who participated.

Basic Negotiating Skills
On 21st and 22nd April participants were asked to consider their negotiating challenges, strengths and weaknesses, and craft workable strategies for when they returned to their jobs.

A major highlight of the course was the Kentz perspective, which was provided by Paschal Kennedy, Group Oil and Gas Proposals Manager. In Question and Answer format, Paschal provided a master class; sharing advice, practices and experiences, and addressing issues raised by other participants.

“I realised that I use negotiating skills much more than I thought I did. I’ll approach problems mindful of negotiating styles, the skills required, and with emphasis on desired outcomes.”

Both courses were very productive and all attendees went away with something positive that they can apply to their everyday work.

Kentz’s employees in Midrand, South Africa, recently held a farewell function for Estee Prangley who has decided to broaden her horizons and move abroad to pursue other opportunities. Estee began working for Kentz in 2001 and worked in the Midrand office for three years. She subsequently left in 2004 before returning again in 2005.

Estee originally worked as Human Resources (HR) Secretary and on her return in 2005 was employed in the position of HR Assistant before moving on to HR/Training Facilitator. In January this year she transferred to the training facility in the Johannesburg suburb of Chamdor, where she took up the position of Skills Development Facilitator.

Hayley Barker, Regional HR Manager, presented Estee with a gift – which turned out to be a very useful suitcase – thanked her and wished her well for the future. All the best, Estee, and happy travels!

It has been a hard push in the past few weeks to get St. Gerard’s School completed for the opening on 27th July, but thanks to the Kentz and Digicel team this weekend will see the classrooms finished and ready for the children.

Since the earthquake the children have been schooled in temporary plastic shelters, these are not ideal, but they allowed the children to catch up with their course work. This would normally be the school holidays, but they have a lot of work to catch up on.

IDIJEN, the local National Government Organisation in Port-au-Prince, has offered Kentz a chance to work closer with the local community in Port-au-Prince and to get first-hand feedback of residents’ likes and dislikes with regards to the classroom construction. It was clear from the beginning of the project that the available employment on site had to be treated as an equal opportunity for both males and females alike. The construction team was inundated with ladies seeking work to earn some money for their families. There have been two female carpenters and two female painters working on the project from the very start. Within the last two weeks an additional four female painters have been employed. Their sons will be educated in the new classrooms and they have made an excellent contribution to the project.

During the design and construction of the schools, huge consideration was given to the possibility of another earthquake or of hurricanes causing more devastation. An Irish Structural Engineer working with Digicel has been working closely with Kentz and certain structural additions have been made to each classroom to allow for this, making the structure a lot stronger and more stable. Another feature that has been incorporated is specially designed holdingdown clamps which anchor the container units into concrete pedestals, ensuring that the structure will not move in the strongest of winds.