Anglogold Hosts Safety and First Aid Week

By Alfred Adams

ANGLOGOLD Ashanti, Iduaprieme Mine, last Saturday hosted the 2017 Zone One First Aid and Safety Week Celebration.

The weeklong celebration, which is an annual event, was under the theme - 'Safe and Responsible Mining, Our Heritage.'

It began with a quiz competition among participating mining firms on Ghana Television's flagship programme dubbed - 'What Do You Know', followed by medical outreach programme, Health Walk and Volley ball game.

The climax of the week was the First Aid and Safety competition among the participating mining firms, held on the Sicelo Ntuli Sports Park at Tarkwa last Saturday.

Four mining companies, represented by their various teams, battled for the first position in the safety and first aid competition.

The mines that took part were: AngloGold Ashanti Iduaprieme Limited, Golden Star Resources Wassa Mine, Ghana Manganese Company (GMC) and Newmont Akyem Mine.

The task of each team was to demonstrate how it would use safety and first aid to address health problem. St. John Ambulance was appointed a judge to oversee the exercise.

Each of the participating teams had between 5 to 10 minutes time allotted to address a safety and first aid question.

At the end of the competition, Golden Star Limited Wassa Mine emerged first. Newmont, GMC, AngloGold placed second third and fourth respectively.

The trophy for the Community teams was won by Golden Star Wassa Mine and was followed by Newmont community team in second place. GMC and AngloGold Ashanti community teams placed third and fourth respectively.

Speaking at the event, the Acting Managing Director of AngloGold Ashanti, Mr. Jasper Musadaidzwa pointed out that safety was the hall mark of the host mining company. To this end, it has extended First Aid training to its host communities.

"On regular basis we engage the communities on safety drills, cyanide training and community Health Outreach programmes", he said.

Data from the Inspectorate Division of Minerals Commission indicates that mining industry recorded a reduction in all cases of reportable incidents in 2016 except for First Aid Injury.

The frequency of Serious Accidents decreased from nineteen in 2015 to seventeen in 2016, while recorded cases of fatality declined from four to three over the same period.

Pic Caption- A team demonstrating first aid and safety scenario.

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