Ghana National Gas Company, a trusted and reliable gas service company, has received the highest accreditation for occupational health and safety management system. This follows the granting of the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) Certification (45001:2018) from Det Norske Veritas (DNV), a globally acclaimed expert in assurance and risk management and one of the few registrar and classification societies, with its headquarters in Høvik, Norway.
The certification was obtained on April 1, 2022, after procedures for its acquisition began on November 12, 2019, with the aim of benchmarking and certifying the organization’s occupational Health and Safety (OH&S) management system to global standards.
With this feat, GNGC became the first fully-owned state firm in the energy sector to be accredited.
At the unveiling in Accra on Wednesday, they were joined by other players in the energy sector, including two deputy ministers of energy, William Owuraku Aidoo and Dr. Mohammed Amin Adam. Other participant included representatives from the Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC), Tullow Oil, the National Petroleum Authority (NPA), Eni, the Petroleum Commission and the Energy Commission.
The energy minister lauded the GNGC for the hard work of the board, management, and workforce in obtaining such integral certificate that reaffirmed their commitment to world-class safety and health standards in their working environment in a speech delivered on his behalf by William Owuraku Aidoo.
“ISO 45001:2018 is the new international standard for Occupational Health and Safety management system published in March 2018. The certification process is renowned for increasing worker participation at all levels of the organization enabling the seamless integration of health and safety into company’s overall business processes,” he said.
Mr. Opoku Prempeh indicated that his company was collaborating with the GNGC to capitalize on the use of natural gas as a feedstock for fertilizer production in the country.
He also stated that plans for the construction of a fertilizer plant in the Western Region to alleviate the fertilizer shortage were well underway.
The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) stated that, in addition to ensuring the protection of life and property, the certification would boost the company’s international image, improve its operational efficiency, improve compliance with safety protocols, attract investment and boost stakeholder confidence in the company’s operations. He pointed out that because the job involved working on a gas processing plant with highly volatile components, it was critical that management and the board continually implemented policies and steps to ensure that the workers’ demands in terms of occupational health and safety were satisfied.
According to DNV representative Emmanuel Siaw, the GNGC met all of the standards that merited the certification after a rigorous and meticulous audit routine in which his team visited the GNGC’s Gas Processing Plant and other facilities at Atuabo.
He urged GNGC to sustain and improve the process and standards in order to increase productivity and customer satisfaction.
An independent annual review and a three-year recertification audit of the GNGC’s safety management system are required to maintain the ISO certificate.
