The Environmental Protection Agency, in collaboration with its stakeholders, will step up surveillance and compliance enforcement to ensure safety at all fuel and gas petroleum filling stations throughout the country.

This they will do by strictly adhering to certification protocols, regular training programmes for pump attendants, drivers and other auxiliary workers of the stations.

Mr. John Alexis Pwamang, Acting Executive Director of the Agency, announced this in a day’s sensitisation workshop for Chief Executive Officers of Oil Marketing Companies and Liquefied Petroleum Gas Companies in Accra.

The workshop, which attracted about 60 participants comprising Chief Executive Officers, the Ghana National Fire Service among other stakeholders, was on the theme ‘Environmental Safety and International Best Practice’.

To facilitate their surveillance and safety programmes, Mr. Pwamang said, the Agency has acquired a number of analysers that will speed up activities at the pumps.

He said the Agency had also decentralised some of its documentation to the Regional Offices to ease accreditation and certification of companies outside the capital, and called on them to carry out their duties diligently to ensure perpetual safety at the pumps.

The Acting Chief Executive Officer said an inter-sectoral committee is also in place to provide the necessary advice and directives to ensure maximum safety, and called for support from all stakeholders.

Mr. Kwaku Agyemang-Duah, President of the Association of Oil Marketing Companies, hinted that the workshop will further enhance the security and safety measures they had adopted in previous years against any emergencies.

Mr. Agyemang-Duah gave the assurance that systems will be put in place to ensure the incidents recorded in the past became the last ones, as more members will be enlightened to carry out the best practices.

Mr. Ebenezer Appiah-Sampong, Deputy Executive Director in charge of the Technical Division of the EPA, gave assurance that they will continue to educate with competency training programmes to ensure a win-win situation for all stakeholders.