Safety, health officials trained to execute workplace accident investigations 

The Labour Ministry, in collaboration with Global People Services and Management (GPSM) Consultants Inc, on Tuesday concluded an accident and incident investigation training programme, aimed at enhancing the abilities of safety and health officers.
GPSM is a Guyanese-owned firm that is managed and operated by a team with experience in delivering services and technical assistance to international, regional, and local industrial companies at various levels, including management and consultants.
Participants in this GPSM-led training included representatives from the Labour Ministry’s Occupational Safety and Health (OSH) Department; Aurora Gold Mine/Zijin Mining Group Company; Guyana Power and Light Inc (GPL) and Massy Distribution.

Principal Consultant/Business Crisis Consultant Vincent Garth facilitated the training, ensuring that the participants were equipped with the necessary knowledge and skills to execute a comprehensive accident and incident investigation on the job.
During the training’s opening ceremony on Monday, Labour Minister Joseph Hamilton had commended the initiative, noting that it would play a crucial role in continuously safeguarding workers’ safety and health.
Since the People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) assumed office in August 2020, the Labour Ministry’s OSH department was able to reduce workplace fatalities by 16 per cent in 2021, with a further 20 per cent decrease in 2022.
For 2022, the department undertook 1298 inspections countrywide in both the private and public sectors, meeting the inspection objective by 85 per cent.
Earlier this month, several employees of Aurora Gold Mine/Zijin Mining Group and Guyana Prison Service (GPS) officers took part in Joint Workplace Safety and Health Committee Training Programmes facilitated by the OSH Department.
These training sessions taught the participants about National Insurance Scheme (NIS) benefits and the legal requirement to report all workplace accidents/diseases to NIS.
It also included sensitisation training on Human Immunodeficiency Virus/Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome (HIV/AIDS), as well as fire safety training.
This initiative essentially seeks to prepare members of the Joint Workplace Safety and Health Committee to carry out their mandate in the workplace, as required by Chapter 99:06 of the OSH Act.
Following the training’s completion, participants can now design and maintain safe work systems and practices, thereby minimising or eliminating workplace accidents altogether.
It also allows participants to demonstrate an awareness of their roles and responsibilities as Joint Workplace Safety Committee representatives, and empowers them to be able to undertake workplace inspections and accident investigations, as well as implement techniques to control and/or remove hazards in their own workplaces.
The workplaces and the participants would be certified for two years.