MINE SAFETY, FIRST AID COMPETITION HELD (PAGE 13)

By Akwasi Ampratwu-
Mensah, Sunyani

THIS year’s Zone Two Mine Safety and First Aid Competition involving five mining companies in the country, took place at the Newmount Ghana Gold Limited (NGGL) Plant Site at Kenyasi in the Asutifi District of the Brong Ahafo Region.
Central African Gold Company Limited at Bibiani in the Western Region emerged champions when the company’s team scored 64.3 points.
The other companies that participated in the Oral Safety and First Aid Quiz as well as Practical Safety and First Aid Test were: AngloGold Ashanti at Obuasi, which placed 2nd with 62.5 points, NGGL, 3rd with 62 points: Chirano Mines at Chirano in the Bibiani-Anhwiaso-Bekwai District in the Western Region followed with 51.8 points, while Ghana Bauxite Company, Awaso in the Western Region placed 5th with 49.6 points.
Qualification
Central African Gold and AshantiGold have thus qualified to participate in the national contest which has the overall aim of bringing together mining companies and community representatives and creating safety and first aid awareness among them.
The general theme for this year’s programme was: The Right Way, The Safety Way, Everyday.
For the Community Representative competition, NGGL community team scored 72 points to emerge winners followed by Chirano with 70 points and Central African Gold community with 69 points. The first two teams have therefore, qualified to compete in the national event.
All the teams that participated were presented with prizes and certificates.
Speaking at the function, the General Manager, Environment and Social Responsibility of NGGL, Mr Dan Michaelsen, dismissed the perception by people that, mining companies cared little about the safety of human life and the environment.
He explained that mining companies rather had a great responsibility to ensure that their activities were carried out under the safest conditions and with minimum negative impact on the environment, adding, “This responsibility extends not only to employees but also to communities in which we operate.”
Awareness
Mr Michaelsen further explained that the ever-increasing global awareness about workplace safety and the environment, had led to a corresponding increase in public expectation for extractive industries to be responsible in their activities.
The General Manager stressed that it was precisely the growing attention of the public and other stakeholders that had spawned many of the safety and environmental initiatives that modern mining companies now supported, adding that, one of such initiatives was the zonal safety and first aid competition.
He said that it was within the context of self-regulation that the Ghana Chamber of Mines in partnership with other stakeholders, instituted the mine safety competition to celebrate and reinforce the safety values now demonstrated by the mining industry and their communities.
Mr Michaelsen expressed satisfaction about the community involvement in the programme because it emphasised the fact that safety was as important to communities as it was for the mining companies and that his company was proud to be hosting the competition for the first time at the cost of GH¢50,000.
Blasting Standards
Ms Joyce R. Aryee, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Ghana Chamber of Mines, said in a speech read on her behalf that, the lack of indigenous blasting standards that suited local conditions, had been a major concern for the mining industry and that, the industry had therefore, had to rely on standards from other countries, such as Australia and the United States of America.
To address this concern, she disclosed that the chamber, in collaboration with the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Inspectorate Division of the Minerals Commission, had obtained the support of the Mining Sector Support Programme (MSSP) of the European Union to conduct a study to establish the requisite standards that were relevant for the country.