Ghana’s Ministry of Energy has developed a Health Safety Security and Environment Manual for its energy sector.
The manual, which is expected to guide all the players in the energy sector, in the pursuit of their activities, was developed with support from the Ghana Oil and Gas for Inclusive Growth (GOGIG) Programme.
Speaking at the launch of the manual on Wednesday, 26th June, 2019, Deputy Minister for Energy in charge of Petroleum Dr Mohammed Amin Adam noted that the sustainability of the energy sector resides in a vibrant health, safety security and environmental sector that is continually reviewed to meet changing trends.
“It is, therefore, our collective responsibility to ensure that the change in HSSE culture that we start today remains a part of us always,” he stated.
“I require the regulators to lead the successful implementation of the manual with maximum collaboration of all players in ensuring that the ultimate objectives are achieved,” he said.
He commended the hard work of the Multi-Stakeholder Working Group and all involved in the successful development of the manual.
Dr Amin urged all industry players to prioritise the safety of their staff and promote environmental friendliness along the entire value chain, by complying with international best practices and the country’s standards and regulations.
Copies of the manual were presented to the representatives of both players in the upstream and downstream for their respective companies.
MoU To Deal With Incident
Dr Amin revealed that the Energy Ministry, in collaboration with relevant ministries, had drafted an MoU on Incident Investigation.
The MoU, he explained, would be signed between the ministry and other relevant ministries whose agencies undertake incident investigations in the energy sector.
“The aim of the MoU is to coordinate the incident investigation process and the monitoring of recommendation measures implementation,” he explained.
Dealing With Climate Change
The Ministry, Dr Amin noted, has also developed a Climate Change-Smart Energy Action Plan to ensure compliance of government institutions within the energy sector with International Climate Change protocols.
The implementation of the plan would involve the submission of climate change mitigation activities being undertaken by our sector agencies for publication.
Also in the draft is the Sustainability and Social Inclusion Policy for the Energy Sector.
This policy seeks to ensure that energy sector projects include social systems of communities that are impacted by the projects on a sustainable basis during the project planning, development and implementation phases.
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