A three-day capacity building workshop to streamline operations in the Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) industry has ended in Takoradi with a task to LPG managers, service providers and pump attendants to maintain standards and professionalism to avoid occupational hazards and maximize returns.

The workshop, under the auspices of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), follows a stakeholder meeting in November 2019 to discuss the training and certification of all LPG operators along the supply chain on international best practices.

It aimed at bringing all service providers under a regulatory regime to enable them to secure appointment letters, obtain insurance cover and improve on their working conditions under the Collective Bargaining Agreements.

It was attended by service providers, officials from the EPA, staff from the Land and Spatial Planning and Usage, the Ghana National Fire Service, Factories Inspectorate Division and the media.

Mr Samuel Otu Larbi, an LPG Consultant and Managing Director of Solution Solved Ltd, who took participants through combustible -related activities of LPG operators and consumers, said the absence of a manual on the use of gas cylinders had been factored into the training to broaden participants' scope on the usage of gas cylinders to avoid fire outbreaks and damage to lives and property.

He advised local and national authorities to take advantage of the expertise within the LPG industry to ensure good consumer safety practices and measures.

Mr Otu Larbi called for behavioural and attitudinal change as a way of controlling risk to guarantee the health and safety of people and safeguard property and the environment.

He said the gas installer, marketer, regulator and consumer played a critical role in the safe handling of gas.

To avoid fire outbreaks and manage hazards at gas filling stations, Mr Otu Larbi advised against over-filling of storage tanks, avoidance of heat, usage of the appropriate bond or earth cable during gas transfer, and ensuring that electrical systems of gas tankers were in good condition.

Mr Hayfron Acquah, an official from the EPA Head Office in Accra, reiterated the need for LPG operators to secure environmental permits from the EPA before operations.

He said before the permit was given EPA would have to ensure that staff at the station had gone through training and certification.

Mr Acquah asked managers of LPG stations to train pump attendants and other staff on environmental management issues once every year and advised them to provide water sprinkler system on the gas tankers, first aid kits, smoke detectors and other control systems to safeguard their stations.

He warned that LPG managers who flouted the regulations would have their stations closed.

Mr George Diawoh, the Western Regional Director of EPA, said environmental governance was a shared responsibility and entreated all stakeholders in the industry to get on board.

He said the outcome of the training would inform the policy document of EPA, which would be a proper marker for the value of LPG operators.

The President of LPG Operators Association of Ghana, Mr Kwame Shake, said the Association would continue to work hand in hand with the EPA to make it more vibrant to stand the test of time.