A NEW CAREER DAWNS FOR GAUTRAIN SITE ADMINISTRATOR

Sean Perrings, Gautrain site administrator

“Advancing your skills becomes a big challenge when people don’t look past your disability,” says Sean Perrings, Gautrain site administrator. After loosing the ability to walk normally due to a motorcycle accident in 1987, Sean became aware how attitudes had changed towards him in the workplace.

“People think for you. They believe that you cannot achieve certain tasks and responsibilities because you are disabled,” says Sean who has had to see how colleagues got promoted to senior positions while he would be overlooked. “I would not get challenging jobs because there is the belief that I am not capable of handling the pressure,” says Sean.

He saw a Gautrain vacancy being advertised in the newspaper and tried his luck. “I had almost given up, when I was contacted three years later for an interview,” says Sean. In 2007 he was appointed as site administrator in an industry that was totally foreign to him. Learning how to use the required computer programmes was also something Sean had to literally learn overnight. At the time, Gautrain construction was already in full swing and the pressure was on. “I was thrown into the deep end. There was not time for a leisurely and lengthy induction. The next thing I know, I was given my safety shoes and a hard hat and I was ready to go.”

Sean had spent many long hours at the office where he is responsible for purchasing all the necessary resources for the civil earth works between Linbro Park and Centurion. This vast area totals 25km and includes the construction of viaducts, the crusher yard, culverts, slopes, bridges and compaction. Sean’s responsibility is to manage supplies for this area such as tools, cement and reinforcement. At one stage, there were over 1 000 people working on the civil earth works on this section of Gautrain’s route. Managing the petty cash, which is by no means a small amount, is also Sean’s responsibility.

A proud father of a 16-year-old daughter, Sean recently bought a house which makes him immensely proud of his accomplishments. A fitter and turner by trade, he has also worked in the security industry before taking the leap into the construction industry when joining Gautrain.

As a little boy growing up in Zimbabwe, Sean used to love playing with his toy tipper truck in the sand. “Little did I know that one day I was going to become part of something that will last forever,” says Sean when referring to Gautrain. “I wish I could sign my name on one of the concrete structures for someone to see one day and to know that I was here.”