The National Petroleum Authority is partnering the Drivers and Vehicle Licensing Authority to ensure only well trained and certified drivers transport fuel and LPG.

According to a representative from the NPA, Esther Anku, the authority is also collaborating with key stakeholders to draw a manual to ensure less road accidents by vehicles transporting the products.

She emphasised that the authority is bent on ensuring that safety and compliance are prioritized in the petroleum downstream sector. Mrs. Anku revealed this at the launch of the 5th Edition of the Safety Week Celebration.

“Considering the hazardous nature these VRCs carry, these accidents could have very devastating effects such as an experience happened two weeks ago at Oyinanofo in the Ashanti region. When the accident happened there, it claimed three lives and destroyed various properties including 10 houses. To curb these accidents, the NPA in collaboration with the Drivers and Vehicle Licensing Authority and Road Safety Limited has taken the necessary steps to comply with Section 53 (1) of the Road Safety Regulations 2012 LI 2180,” she said.

Chief Executive of the Association of Oil Marketing Companies, Kwaku Agyemang Duah, said the Safety Week Celebration is a work in progress and the continuous acknowledgment of the celebration is a gradual process to addressing challenges of safety in the sector.

“The atomic explosion happened when we first started and that dampened our spirits because we were trying to start something and another counters it but it happens. However, since its implementation you would realize that there haven’t been consistent incidents in a particular area. The frequent ones are related to contractor safety.

Meanwhile, Bismark Otchere, Managing Director for J & B Global Lifting, a third party inspection company, is providing free services in the form of social responsibility during the Safety Week Celebration.

“The services that we are providing for them are non-destructive tests that is, we make sure that the tanks are not wary or rusty from climate conditions and we calibrate their temperature, pressure gauges  to check if everything is fine,” he said.