Good EHS Practice is Good Business – unearthing the value of Proactive Health and Safety Practice at the Workplace.

Ghana has experienced multiple deadly environmental disasters within the petroleum and mining industries over the last decade, yet, no substantial changes have been reported or enforced. It appears that the immediate reactions fizzles out returning to business as usual once the media gaze turns away, leaving the victims and habitants in no better position.

It is imperative to identify and assess the root causes to enable the implementation of appropriate remedial measures that will help improve the situation and also to assist in better responding to future recurrence.

This article explores the legal and environmental health and safety (EHS) issues in this incident whilst drawing comparisons to previous incidents locally and globally to aid the understanding and enhance the knowledge of readers. It will also further highlight on why ‘Good EHS practice is good business thereby increasing profitability of businesses’

The Mineral and Mining Regulations (Explosives) 2012, provides five key requirements for the transportation of mining explosives. Being:

·         The use of an authorised vehicle approved by the Chief Inspector of Mines for the transportation of explosives;

·         Requirement for a police escort during transportation;

·         For a blastman to be onboard of the vehicle;

·         Training of employees; and

·         The explosives compartment on the vehicle is enclosed and protected with non-inflammable materials

There has been a number of alleged accounts on the incident and victim blaming, including claims of a head of collision of the explosives vehicle with a motorist. It is unclear whether the motorist was in breach of road usage rules. Aside the Minerals and Mining Regulation, there was a clear breach of road usage rules. The causal disregard for rules is damaging to our lives and in some instances, fatal. Industrial vehicles are overloaded on our roads with no sense of safety relating to the products being transported. A few concerns worth soliciting public views are as follows;

1. Should such hazardous activity of transporting explosives be reviewed so that such heavy duty vehicles do not ply routes in densely populated areas?
2. Could there be a law that could regulate the travel times of such heavy duty vehicles carrying dangerous goods?
3. How has the DVLA or Police responded to this incident?

The transportation of several dangerous goods including like fuels and most recently explosives, have posed several dangerous accidents in the country and it brings to question whether we have the ability of learning from past events in a bid to shape the future.

With an increased awareness on green consciousness and safety, the global efforts and impact goes far beyond climate change summits. Jurisdictions are moving towards issuing of Green Sanctions and consumers want to see producers take safety and environmental protection seriously. If Ghana truly wants to maintain and grow its reputation as a destination for tourism and businesses, then it will need step-up its position on environment, health and safety management.

Another important question worth asking is whether the government can also be relied on to appoint and guarantee an independent investigation team to investigate the incident and also ensure that root causes identified and its enhanced controls are fully implemented?

Perhaps it is time for Ghana to have an independent Health and Safety Regulator with the power and legal backing to regulate and supervise companies large or small, and, hold people and companies to account under public law. Companies may wish to revise their Corporate Governance Policy and Corporate Social Responsibility to help them measure its benefits not only to the well-being of its employees, but review how it translates into revenues, enhances reputation and competition within their respective industries.

Business owners and employees could benefit from three key reasons why it is important to prioritize environment health and safety (EHS) within the entire value chain of any establishment.

• Financial/Economic Reasons

Besides reducing costs, effective environment health and safety management promotes business efficiency. Thousands of work-related accidents, resulting in more than three days off work are reported to the Health and Safety Authority each year. Work-related diseases and ill-health are more difficult to measure due to their long latency period but result in excess of one million days lost at work each year. These accident and ill-health cases are due to failures and deficiencies in the occupational safety and health management in organisations.

When employers create proactive systems at theirworkplaces, costs to be incurred to pay for health insurance as a result of staff ill-health and injuries would be reduced and these could be savings for the company.

The Safety, Health and Welfare at Work Act 2005 (the 2005 Act) requires all duty holders to ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable, the safety, health and welfare of workers and members of the public and to manage and conduct all work activities in such a way as to ensure their safety, health and welfare. This requires all who have this legal responsibility to be proactive in managing their safety, health and welfare responsibilities and deal with them in a systematic way. This section should help organisations to improve their safety and health performance by providing advice on how safety and health should be managed, and in the process help them to comply with their legal requirements.

Employers will be free of sanctions and fines should they prioritize EHS in their value chain. Imagine what Maxam Ghana Limited could do with $6million should they have been more cautious. It goes without saying that if you think, safety practice is expensive, try accidents.

• Moral and Ethical Reasons

The proactive management of safety and health in the workplace helps organisations prevent injuries and ill-health at work. Employers could boast of enviable track record of employee safety and business continuity when less accidents and ill-health are reported. Imagine working for a whole year without any accidents or injuries? Employers and employees would be excited and productivity would increase which will eventually translate into better conditions of service, reduction in staff turnover rates just to mention a few. It will even help improve the brand image of the business.

Going forward, we cannot continue to do things the same way and expect different results. The government, must, as a matter of urgency, consider the passage of the Occupational health and safety bill into law so the Minister overseeing the Ministry of Employment and Labour Relations could have the legal basis to set up the Department of Occupational Safety and Health (DOSH) as stated in the OSH Bill currently before parliament.

‘The DOSH if established is to secure the safety, health, protection and welfare of persons at work, employers and protecting others, including the general public against risks and hazards emanating from or in connection to, the activities of persons at work and to provide for related matters’

DOSH will be mandated to promote safety, health protection and welfare of persons at work and the general public. The department among other things would be responsible for;

1. Implementing national occupational safety and health policies and programmes towards the promotion and enforcement of occupational safety and health standards in the country.
2. Ensuring occupational safety and health practices in the country remain relevant, current and in line with international best practices and that policy decisions are reflected in programmes and initiatives.
3. Ensuring there is synergy and collaboration between institutions with responsibilities and duties related to occupational safety and health.
4. Reviewing the safety and health performance, promoting safety and health culture in different economic sectors, offer direction and guidance on safety and health to enterprises, institutions and service providers through training and education.

In conclusion, based on the points enumerated above, are we going to sit and fold our arms for another disaster to wreck an entire community of human lives and property?

Or have we learnt enough lessons from June 3^rd flood disaster and Appeatse explosion to do better?

Would the passage of the bill guarantee an increase in foreign direct investments in a bid to open up our economy and provide jobs for the many unemployed?

Would we as a country be responsible enough to prioritize the health and safety of her people and ensure such disasters do not happen again?

The choice is ours!!!