Dubbed “People Safety First,” the campaign seeks to minimise accidents in the petroleum industry in Ghana.

Discussing ‘The spate of gas explosions and the way forward’ on Ghana Television’s flagship programme ‘Talking Point,’ the Chief Executive of NPA, AlhassanTampuli said the Authority would meet the Chief Executives of the petroleum service providers next week to collate their views on “how best we can jointlyprevent petroleum related accidents in the country.”

He was concerned about the recent fires in the industry and the loss of lives and property to these accidents.

We are working to improve the situation, he said adding that safety was a collective responsibility of all stakeholders.

He entreated service providers to adhere to safety protocols and said consumers should abide by safety guidelines on the use of petroleum products and as the NPA monitors and enforces safety standards through inspections and sanctions.

The Director of Public Relations, Divisional Officer (DO)1 Prince Billy Anaglate who was also on the panel advised owners of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) plants and fuel stations to adhere strictly to fire safety regulations.

He urged drivers of fuel tankers to participate in fire safety education programmes to be equipped with fire prevention skills.

In a related development, Chief Executive of the NPA, Mr Alhassan Tampuli has began series of safety sensitisation workshops for tanker drivers, tanker owners, dealers, retailers and oil marketing companies on the need to improve safety standards.

The workshops were held in Kumasi, Tamale and Takoradi as preludes to the launch of the NPA Campaign in June 2017.

This would be followed by a safety workshop for Petroleum Service Providers (PSPs) in all regional capitals.

Among other things, there would also be stakeholders’ engagements with the media, organised labour, civil society organisations.

Mr Tampuli reminded the Petroleum Service Providers that petroleum products were hazardous and must be handled with care.

He said the NPA would institute a “Safety Day” to remind industry players of safety.

Mr Tampuli and a team of directors of NPA also visited the Buipe and Bolgatanga depots of Bulk Oil Storage Transportation to assess the levels of safety standards at the depots.

Mr Tampuli visited Tamale and Paga on the Ghana-Burkina Faso border to interact with officials of the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) to discuss smuggling of petroleum products along the Ghana-Burkina Faso border.

The NPA boss also had conversations with the commander of the GRA in the Upper East Region and inspected the BOST booster station in Savelugu, which catalyses delivery of petroleum products from Buipe to Bolgatanga.

The team found that the station had not been in use since September 2016 because of the lack of petroleum products.

By Times Reporter