The safety and health of employees at Dominica Electricity Services (DOMLEC) remains at the forefront of the activities as the company observes Health and Safety Month 2021.
The opening ceremony of this year’s activity was held through a virtual meeting on Wednesday.
“Each employee must take responsibility for his or her action and must commit not to do anything which will compromise his or her safety and that of others,” General Manager of DOMLEC, Bertillia McKenzie said while delivering remarks. at the opening ceremony. “It also means absolutely nothing should take precedence over safety…This must be demonstrated by all of us.”
She also made the point that excellent safety leadership must be apparent at all levels and stressed that managers and supervisors must lead by example, by thinking and acting safely and encouraging, motivating and inspiring others to do so.
Furthermore, she pointed out that safety leadership recognizes the importance, not only of conveying safety information, but also of managers and supervisors being willing to listen to team members when they speak up regarding matters of concern.
“It means empowering team members to be proactive, to lead out in their sphere of influence and it also means equipping our employees with the tools and training required to work safely,” McKenzie noted.
McKenzie went on to say that each employee and management must strive to improve his or her safety performance, thus contributing to ever increasing levels of organizational safety performance.
“For this to occur continuous learning is required at the individual, the departmental and the organization,” she stated. “We must also undertake periodic reviews and revisions of our safety systems including our safe work practices so that higher standards may be achieved.”
She added, “Safety has been put on the front burner by everyone at DOMLEC and the safety consciousness of all employees has been enhanced and continues to be enhanced.”
Senior Safety Environmental Officer, Bernard Francis, said despite Covid-19 conditions DOMLEC has had exceptional safety performance.
“To-date DOMLEC has worked approximately 800,000 exposure hours nearing the 1 million mark with zero loss time incidents, zero medical aid and zero injuries…,” he revealed. “Our last recordable loss time incident was in June 2019…we are very proud of this achievement.”
Moreover, he said DOMLEC’S expectation is that health and safety month will create opportunities for all stakeholders to focus on the importance or preventing injury in the workplace and in our communities.
Francis encourages everyone to continue to work together to build a healthier and safer workplace and community.
Meantime, Secretary-Treasurer of the Waterfront and Allied Workers Union (WAWU), Kertiste Augustus encouraged DOMLEC to continue to invest in the area of occupational safety and health.
He also encouraged the company to create more training for staff.
Augustus believes DOMLEC, as a company, stands above many others in Dominica and “I hope that it remains that way.”
The activities for the month include opportunities for office staff members to conduct safety observations alongside senior technical staff beginning from Thursday 6th May and every other Thursday.
Also this Thursday and every other week there will be a safety quiz for internal staff where persons will be given the opportunity to win great prizes.
On May 10th and every other Monday all employees will be given an hour to participate in a health walk.
On May 10th the general public will be sensitized on safety practices through a radio programme, May 14th a safety assessment will be conducted at the Operation Youth Quake.
The company will also conduct school visits that will run from May 17th to May 28th where DOMLEC will continue to provide grades 4 to 6 on the basic foundations on health and safety for their life journey.
The month celebration will end on May 31st with a health walk.
Health and Safety Month 2021 is celebrated under the theme: “Enhancing the Health and Safety Culture- Safety rules are your best tools.”
I still think wholeheartedly that government should pursue owning majority shares in this precious resource.