PERSONALITY PROFILE
33
the regulations on drainage and fire water and made it
available for building control officers all over the country,
and as far as Namibia. These documents became part of
my application.
I was simultaneously involved with various SABS committees
and working groups and with a research committee at the
CSIR and lecturing to architectural students of Tuks and to
many others such as the inspectorate of building control
officers, architects, business groups and the technical staff
of factories and at conferences.
A Pr.Eng at last
Almost a year later I was notified that I had passed the
examinations, was now registered as a Professional Engineer
and entitled to write Pr. Eng. behind my name.
Perhaps I should elaborate on the technical preparation that
assisted me to be able to eventually register. Wits University
gave excellent regular evening lectures on various subjects
which were of high technical value and a number of engineers
from our company attended these courses with me.
Some of these courses were on pumps and pump systems
and another comprehensive course was on compressors
and many other subjects and it was all very applicable at
the office on a daily basis. Bestobell was another company
that presented excellent courses on steam generation
and distribution and steam equipment, as well as courses
on compressed air generation and distribution and
equipment.
These courses offered a good balance of theoretical and
practical knowledge and were highly applicable and valuable.
The course material of Veaseys Engineering College was
extremely valuable to prepare myself for the registration
examination in terms of the electrical and mechanical
elements of the design of water and hot water. And finally,
the multiple catalogues in my office library gave me free
engineering design technology and I still use it today after a
career of 66 years.
When I prepared for my examination to register, an
engineer friend told me, “Vollie, an engineer must be
able to manage people and projects and know where to
find information and then how to apply it.” He also said,
“Remember that an engineer is also a manager and must
Vollie Brink – My passions:
• To mentor young engineers
• To train young engineers and prepare them
for Pr.Eng, Pr. Tech Eng and Pr Technician for
registration
• To transfer knowledge and experience
• To present CPD courses for engineers and others
who are interested (these are ECSA validated)
• To write Dear Mr Plumber
• To write technical articles for journals
• To give technical talks
• To participate in SABS committees and working groups
Vollie Brink is also an avid amateur artist.
be able to manage people with knowledge, expertise,
competence, experience, skills, and projects.”
Knowledge comes from studying and learning, which if
applied, leads to experience, which leads to competence. I
have written this ‘saga’ of mine not to brag, as I don’t think
it is something to brag about, but rather in the hope that it
will be an inspiration to somebody somewhere.
Memberships of D.S.Brink Pr.Eng.
• Saice
• Saice Water division
• Saice Fire Engineering division
• Project Management Institute SA
• Fire Protection Association of SA
• Green Building Council of SA
• EASA
• Past member of the Housing Institute of SA
• Past member of Ingenieurs Genootskap van SA
• Past member of SA Institute Building Services
• Past member of Project Management Institute USA
To research new technology
• To attend conferences and give talks if requested
• Rugby, having played for two clubs’ first teams
front rank tight head and for two years for Western
Transvaal under 19, before I got injured
• Played some tennis
• Have an affinity with the Shangaan people and
speak their language
• Love people, all people
• Love to write what I call ‘my skryf stories’, which is
about history and family history and stories. PA
“My motto
was to always
be the best
and do the
best and to
search for the
best available
technology
all over the
world.”
August 2020 Volume 26 I Number 06
www.plumbingafrica.co.za