A total of 72 persons from the host communities of Gold Fields Ghana Limited (GFGL) Tarkwa and Damang Mines have passed out in emergency response training programme.
They were trained by officers from the Ghana National Fire Service (GNFS), National Disaster Management Organization (NADMO), Saint John Ambulance Services and Safety Department of the Mine.
Speaking at the passing out ceremony in Tarkwa, Regional Community Relations Manager of GFGL, Mr Robert Siaw said the aim of the training was to empower some residents to respond promptly to any emergencies that might occur within the Mines host communities.
He said in Gold Fields the safety of their employees was equally important as the citizens in its operational area.
Mr Siaw explained that although the Appiatse incident was not a pleasant one, it gave the Mines opportunity to look at how they could train people to handle any unfortunate situation that occurred around them.
“We transport our tailings facilities from Takoradi, we have vehicles that run in town so more or less we interact with the community and anything can happen. Besides this, a lot of things take place in our communities which required volunteers to help,” he noted.
The Regional Community Relations Manager said, “In one of our meetings, we had discussions with the community heads and they advised we shared the idea with members of the various communities. When we spoke to them, they also saw the need for this particular training so each community brought six people to be trained.”
He advised the team to take volunteerism seriously as it paid more than money, adding that “citizens from the United States of America visit developing countries like Ghana to do volunteerism under the Voluntary Service Overseas (VSO) System. When these people arrive, they do not stay in the big towns but instead go to the remote areas of this country to do volunteerism and that is why they are blessed.”
Mr Siaw entreated the group to include sanitation in their work to help keep their respective communities clean from filth.
Nana Kwaku Baah II, Chief of New Atuabo, expressed gratitude to Gold Fields, GNFS, NADMO and Saint John Ambulance Services for the technical support.
He promised to assist the group carry out their duties smoothly because they could not wait for the worse to happen before they act.
Nana Baah II was optimistic that the knowledge and skills acquired by the group during the training would be put to good use.
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