Gold Fields Ghana Limited, in partnership with the University of Mines and Technology (UMaT), has held a Public Lecture to celebrate ‘World Day for Safety and Health at Work’ at Tarkwa in the Western Region.
The celebration was on the theme: ‘Act together to build a positive and healthy culture’.
Joe-Steve Annan, Senior Manager – Occupational Safety and Health at AngloGold Ashanti (Obuasi), speaking on the theme explained that: “Safety, should be a culture and a way of life”.
According to him, “If safety should be a culture, then, it has to be a continual process; health and safety should not end at the workplace, but extend to the various homes as well”.
He said employers need to ensure tools or equipment used by the employees are always safe, and recommended that there should be employee awareness and systems put in place at the work place to prevent accident.
Also, he proposed emergency preparedness and response at the various homes and work places.
Mr. Annan pointed out that regulatory agencies such as Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Road Safety Commission, Driver and Vehicle Licensing Authority (DVLA), among others, have a responsibility to ensure that the public is safe.
“Let us work together and build a healthy and safety culture at all times,” he added.
Mr. Stephen Osei-Bempah, General Manager of Gold Fields Ghana Limited (Tarkwa Mine), said the company has deployed all the necessary safety interventions and initiatives to make workplaces safe for employees, and achieve Zero Harm objective.
“Last year, we worked 266 consecutive days without any injury. We are proud of this milestone because it is an indication that our various safety campaigns and practices are helping us to improve our safety culture,” he said.
“By partnering and supporting UMaT to create awareness on health and safety today, we are helping to create a safety-conscious community,” he said.
He continued that, “This year, we launched a robust safety engagement as part of our host community roadshow, which is organised by our Community Affairs Department. The safety engagement focused on emergency response for fire incidents and evacuation.”
So far, he said the company has trained members of seven host communities in firefighting and evacuation.
The communities, he mentioned, includes Abekoase, Samahu, Pepesa, Tebe, Huniso, New Atoabo and Booboobo.
“Our Health and Safety, and Community Affairs departments will ensure that the remaining host communities are covered by the end of this year,” he added.
An emergency simulation was organised to remind individuals and companies that several factors contribute to road accidents, and this included driver fatigue.
Stakeholders were urged to continue their education on safety issues to bring accidents to the barest minimum in the country.
