The global not-for-profit body for the energy industry, OPITO has certified the operations of the Rigworld Training Center, located at Kejebril, near Takoradi in the Western Region, some 213 km west of Accra.

This follows an audit by OPITO of the facilities and activities of the state-of-the-art Ghanaian training center.

Per the audit and certification, Rigworld Training Center can now carry out Basic Offshore Safety Induction Emergency Training (BOSIET), Further Offshore Emergency Training (FOET) and Helicopter Underwater Escape Training (HUET) related training for its clients.

The facility was developed by the Rigworld Group to create a center of excellence for the oil and gas, mining and heavy industry skills training sectors.

Managing Director (MD) for the center, Steve Taylor expressed his gratitude for the approval of the facility by the global energy body.

He said, “We are delighted to receive this recognition from OPITO and look forward to the courses beginning in earnest.

This approval is in line with our vision in creating this unique center which provides marine, offshore as well as skills training, but we won’t be resting on these accomplishments. Our management team continues to pursue further expansion of the training center throughout 2019.”

Taylor assured Rigworld Training Center will make the requisite skills and knowledge available to the local people to make reality Ghana’s Local Content Act 2013, Act 2204.

“In addition to providing an option closer to home for these workers, we also hope that by building this state-of-the-art facility and investing heavily to develop qualified trainers, we are demonstrating our support and belief in Ghana’s Local Content Law in that we will continue to empower our workforce in these competent skills as well as knowledge transfer,” the MD stated.

The Rigworld Training Center, with International Standards Organization (ISO) 9001:2015 Oil and Gas accredited safety training center offers safety training services to organizations in the offshore oil and gas industry.

It has invested extensively into the center which has a range of specially constructed working at height platforms, confined spaces, rigging and lifting structures as well as scaffolding, survival training and crane simulators.

These stimulate industrial environments and give delegates an extremely realistic learning experience, better preparing them for working in the field.

OPITO has developed Global Qualifications and a qualifications framework to support employers to develop skills and competence within their operations and maintenance activities.

The industry led approach provides a flexible framework with specifically designed and recognized qualifications that can be benchmarked against existing national and regional standards.

To ensure a competent level of technical knowledge, OPITO has introduced Global Qualifications covering Processing Operations and three maintenance disciplines; Electrical, Mechanical and Instrument and Control which are applicable for both onshore and offshore.

Consisting of a structured approach to skills development, the framework builds skills at each level through training and occupational standards.

Assessment is undertaken either in an approved qualifications center or in the workplace depending on the type and level of qualification.

Candidates and institutions that are successfully assessed against OPITO Global Qualifications are awarded recognized qualifications which are issued jointly by OPITO and the Scottish Qualifications Authority (SQA) which is recognized by the industry globally.