Appiah Kusi Adomako
4 September 2008
opinion
Last week, I commenced a series which I am concluding today. It has become an undeniable fact that Ghana's health and safety standard is poor. And as the saying goes no chain is stronger than its weakest link. What links a nation to productivity is good health and once there is no proper regime to check this, the country is always found in the dark corridors of not being able to meets its developmental targets. Making health and safety top of every agenda would not only prevent avoidable disasters but would also save lives and provide huge savings in terms of medical bills and days off from work due to injuries sustained on the job. There is a saying that Ghana is good in formulating high sounding laws but when it comes to the implementation or the enforcement, it falls flat. I cannot see any difference between what has been happening and the proposals being put forth here. I am not trying to be a pessimist. A barking dog is more useful than a sleeping lion. If we want to safeguard life and property in this country then it is time for Ghana to formulate a health and safety bill. THE WAY FORWARD LEGISLATION It is trite but imperative that a journey of a thousand miles begins with a step. To be able to achieve a standard which can be acceptable, government must as a matter of urgency place a bill on health and safety for all professions and trades before parliament. All professional groups should be brought on board in drafting the bill such that by the time the bill is formulated every sector or segment of society is covered. Government working in collaboration with the Ghana Standards Board and the Ghana Health Service, and ultimately bringing every profession or trade -architects, building and quantity surveyors, mechanical engineers, teachers, doctors, lawyers, etc - would help formulate a workable health and safety policy for the country. Most of the accidents that occur on the roads are as results of driver fatigue. Health and safety means that there every commercial car--bus or truck should not drive more than certain miles per day. There should be a mechanism to be able to track all these so as to locate any driver who flouts this rule. It must be noted that every road user has his or her safety dependent on the oncoming vehicle. EDUCATION Education is the key to everything. I always say that the May 9th stadium disaster which happened sometime ago could have been prevented if the Ghana Sports Council had ensured that all the emergency doors of the stadiums were in good shape. Again, if football fans had been educated on how to conduct themselves during an emergency, the magnitude of the casualties would not have been what it was. In the developed world, anytime you enter into hotel or a building for the first time, you are told where the emergency doors are located, just in case of fire or any other problems. What I mean by education is that issues of health and safety should be discussed in all facets of life - schools, churches, market places, etc. HEALTH AND SAFETY AUTHORITY Health and safety in the country should be handled by the Ghana Health and Safety Authority, an autonomous body with the power to be able to bite. The bill should also allow the authority to inspect all establishments which fall under the law. And if any organization, business entity or establishment falls foul of the law, that entity should be penalised - fined or prosecuted. If a road contractor refuses to put the appropriate warning signs to warn commuters about any hazard that the ongoing work has brought, that company should be fined. In the same vein if the city authorities leave trenches open without covering, the city must be fined. Take for instance, when the Accra Metropolitan Authority (AMA) or Kumasi Metropolitan Authority (KMA) or Zoomlion garbage truck refuses to cover the garbage that it is transporting and it becomes a health hazard. The health and safety authority should be able to fine them for not doing the right thing. In this country, the people who are supposed to enforce the law (government agencies, police and the districts/municipals/metropolitan) are those who flout the law. TESTING AND CERTIFICATION It is suggested the that National Health and Safety Authority is to develop training manuals for institutions and anyone who wants to work in areas such as the haulage of petroleum products, transit goods, electrical installations and be made to undergo or sit an exam related to that industry. Only trained and competent people should be allowed to work on such areas. Why do we have to allow just any driver to operate a fifty-seater bus just because he has a driving license? Proper training and certification by the appropriate body would help reduce accidents caused by hazards perception. As I stated in part one of this article last week, most of the accidents that happens on our road are due to hazards or broken cars on the road. If people in the country, especially drivers, are made to write health and safety tests related to the usage of the road, most accidents on the road can be prevented. A word to the wise is enough.
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