The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)has urged stakeholders in the Liquified Petroleum Gas (LPG) industry to embrace safety holistically in their everyday work, to prevent accidents from happening at Gas Filling Stations.

Mr Henry Kwabena Kokofu, EPA Executive Director who told the Ghana News Agency in an interview noted: “Players in the Gas industry must ensure that the marketplace, and more importantly the customer, is not compromised by unsafe practices, Ghana cannot afford any disaster.

“We all have personal and collective responsibilities to ensure a safe environment for LPG throughout the distribution chain; from the producers at the refineries, right through the distribution chain to the final application for the product”.

As part of a broader process to inject professionalism into the sector, Mr Kokofu said the EPA had instituted training of stakeholders to reduce accidents connected with gas usage.

The training forms part of the general requirements for the licensing regime, which would ensure that people who are not trained cannot operate as LPG Pump when the regulations come into force.

"At the end of the three-day training program, LPG Attendants will go through Environmental Safety and Best Practices Training (ESBPT)" he said.

The ESBPT syllabus is divided into phases, which involves theoretical classroom and practical field training, leading to the award of an initial certificate of participation, after which the attendants would be monitored for adherence to best practices.

Mr Kokofu said the Attendants would also go through another theoretical classroom and practical field training at the end of which they would be licensed to operate as Certified Professional LPG Pump Attendants.