The Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) has held a day’s training for third-party electrical contractors as part of ECG’s drive for safety adherence on all of its operational installations.
The training, which is the second in a series for 2023, took place at the ECG Training Centre in Tema.
The training was necessitated in a bid to bring the trainees abreast with ECG’s practices and adherence to operational and safety protocols.
Speaking about the training, the lead facilitator, Dr George Eduful, who is a General Manager of ECG’s Energy Consulting and Telco Business Directorate, said that “it has become necessary for the company to take measures to ensure that its power distribution infrastructure is designed to standards and presents no danger to the technical staff and contractors.”
He added that there is a need for “electrical contractors engaged by ECG to stay up-to-date with the latest advancements in the field while ensuring they are adhering to regulations for safe installations.”
On his part, the ECG Director of the Training Centre, Ing Aheng Owusu-Afriyie stated that the training centre aims to provide competent and practical knowledge while ensuring that safety remains paramount for all practitioners.
He indicated that the training centre provides training for several needs, mainly in technical issues.
Ing Owusu-Afriyie led journalists on a tour of the Training Center where he spoke about the various installations at the centre, and how they have been intentionally done to mimic field installations such that “trainees who come here are taken through vigorous sessions such that once they get to the field, they will be abreast with relevant skills to handle situations.”
The tour covered a substation and what is known as Lifeline.
Explaining this, Ing Owusu-Afriyie explained that the Lifeline means that when faults occur on the network, customers would not have to suffer an outage while the repair works go on.
“Instead, the power supply will be on and the technical staff will be working on it, ensuring that customers will not go suffer outages,” he said.
The ECG Training Center provides technical training and support for several players in the nation’s energy sector, including others from the West African sub-region.
The President of the Ghana Electrical Contractors Association, Mr Awal Sakib Muhammed spoke positively about the training, adding that it is meant to ensure that the practice remains sanitised to curtail incidents of possible accidents.
He praised the ECG management for leading the training programme.
He also threw caution to the public to desist from buying electrical cables from sources they are not sure of but to buy from trusted sources only.
He warned that substandard cables can cause fires, leading to possible loss of life and property.
Source: https://energynewsafrica.com