The Ghana Ports and Harbours Authority (GPHA) has held a programme to sensitise staff and stakeholdes on its Occupational Health, Safety, and Environment (OHSE) policies to create a safer port environment for all users.
The participants included the Customs Division of the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA), Immigration Service, Police Service, National Fire Service (GNFS), freight forwarders, shipping lines, importers and exporters.
Mrs Sandra Opoku, the Director of Tema Port, said the GPHA wanted to have a safe port, therefore the need to rope in stakeholders to ensure their activities at the port conformed to the set standards.
She indicated that throughout the year, the OHSE committee would ensure that both staff and stakeholders followed the policies.
“We want to make sure that the policy does not stay in the books but stays with us on the ground,” she said.
Dr Vitus Victor Anaab-Bisi, the OHSE Committee Chairman, and General Manager of Health Services, GPHA, said the committee had set 2024 as awareness creation year on the policies to empower staff and stakeholders to drive behavioural change for accountability and safety at the various seaports.
The OHSE manual, safety handbook, business continuity plan, emergency preparedness and response plan for all departments are some of the policies, which go with sanctions when not adhered to.
He urged the staff to play their roles by acquainting themselves with those policies and comply with them adding that stakeholders could develop their own policies that should align with the regulations and enforce them to protect the environment.
Dr Anaab-Bisi said they must participate in all OHSE training, maintaining a safe working environment, and provide feedback to the committee to help improve the policies.
The standing committee was established in 2016 after the Authority acquired an International Organisation for Standardisation (ISO) certification.
Its members are mostly general managers, harbour masters of Tema and Takoradi ports, and the ISO coordinator, who are responsible for the development, review, and implementation of the Occupational Health, Safety, and Environment policies.
Mr Kwabena Adu Sarfo, the General Manager-Administration, addressing issues on dress code and substance abuse, said the GPHA provided all personal protective equipment (PPEs) such as helmets, reflective jackets and overall clothing for staff.
He said it was the duty of the staff to take personal responsibility for their safety by wearing the PPEs and dress appropriately for their job-specific duties.
“If you refuse to use these PPEs and embark on any work that endangers you and others, you will be held responsible,” he said.
He cautioned them against all forms of substance abuse warning that testing for substance abuse was a prerequisite for employment.
Other presentations centered on port security, protection of the port environment and prevention of pollution, GPHA’s ISO certification, occupational health, and industrial safety.
GNA