African Oilfield Services (AOS Orwell), an indigenous oil firm have called for the Factory Act to be properly implemented to arrest the increasing accidents in the oil and gas industry in the country.
The oil firm hopes a stricter adherence to the act by operators within the industry will reduce the safety risks workers in the industry experience.
The Factory Act as explained by law is ‘An Act to provide for the registration, etc. of factories; to provide for factory workers and a wider spectrum of workers and other professionals exposed to occupational hazards, but for whom no adequate provisions had been formerly made; to make adequate provisions regarding the safety of workers to which the Act applies and to impose penalties for any breach of its provisions.’
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The company noted that lack of checks by the relevant agencies on adherence to the safety rules by oil companies is escalating accidents and hampering business opportunities.
‘If all companies should adhere to the rules of the Factory Act, accidents will reduce at the barest minimum in the oil and gas sector,’ Ben Akogo, Quality and Safety General Manager for AOS Orwell said in an interview.
‘We have the Factory Act but to a large extent, it is not implemented. As a firm, we are implementing it not because anybody is checking us but because we feel it’s our duty and the right thing to do to ensure safety first before profit.”
