In the wake of the petroleum-related fire accidents which have led to the loss of lives and valuables worth millions of Ghana cedis across the country, the National Petroleum Authority (NPA) has outlined some measures to ensure maximum safety in the petroleum industry in the country.
As part of the drastic measures, the NPA is set to intensify its inspection and monitoring activities to ensure that the service providers in the oil and gas industry are operating according to the standards of performance, especially the safety benchmark prescribed for them.
This means oil and gas marketing companies that flout petroleum safety measures set out by the NPA risk losing their operation licenses or being shut down until they rectify all the shortfalls identified by the authority.
The Director of Inspections, Licensing & Monitoring at the NPA, Esther Anku, disclosed this during an encounter with the media in Ho, the Volta regional capital, on the authority’s nationwide petroleum safety campaign dubbed ‘people safety first’.
The campaign is a response to concerns against safety lapses in the petroleum industry, and it is aimed at stopping petroleum-related accidents at retail outlets, homes and other places.
The NPA would also institute a ‘Safety Day’ as part of the campaign, to be observed once a year, as part of raising safety consciousness among its stakeholders and all Ghanaians.
According to Mrs Anku, the recent spate of petroleum fires in the country could have been avoided if the general public was well-sensitised on fire safety.
She mentioned that the NPA through its campaign would engage all stakeholders on the need to operate safely to avoid accidents in the petroleum industry.
The campaign, she pointed out, would organise regional workshops, public sensitisation forums, education of pump attendants and other staff of oil marketing companies (OMCs) and LPG marketing companies (LPGMCs).
She added that the chief executives of OMCs and LPGMCs would be mandated to sign safety declarations and undertake practical safety activities for a successful implementation of the safety campaign.
The Director of United Petroleum Price Fund, Samuel Asre-Bediaku, emphasized that the NPA would continue to ensure that regulations are adhered to concerning the siting of filling stations.
He stated that the media has a huge role to play in the safety campaign, and appealed to journalists to commit their time to informing the public on the proper use of petroleum products.
