The Independent Regulatory Commission (IRC) has officially set in motion a Health and Safety Campaign to sensitize persons, particularly at secondary schools, on health and safety practices that reduce unnecessary injuries or death due to electrical hazards.
The commission hopes to start off the campaign on Thursday March 9 at with the Dominica Community High School.
Chairperson of the IRC, Bernadette Lambert, said that the campaign is of significant importance as it relates to students and “negligence of some kind.”
“Too often we hear of the many electrical related incidents occurring in areas where they negatively impact health, property and the environment,” she said at the IRC Board Room on Tuesday morning. “Most of these incidents can be avoided as many of them occur because of negligence of some kind.”
The organization focuses on school so as to increase knowledge and have a greater impact on households as the students are expected to act as a medium for dispensing information to family and friends.
Fourteen schools, of which eight are public and six are private, have been contacted. These include; Dominica Community High School, St. Martin Secondary, Pierre Charles Secondary, Goodwill Secondary, Isaiah Thomas Secondary, and Wesley High School.
The IRC has received permission from the Ministry of Education and Human Resource Development to visit the secondary schools that are operated through government funding.
The sensitization will take the form of a thirty minute power point presentation to be followed by a question and answer segment.
Since the IRC is the regulator for the Electricity Sector, and the sensitization is mainly based on electrical related hazards, the commission has enlisted the support of DOMLEC, where representatives from the monopoly would be present at the schools to answer any questions directed to them.
Brochures will also be handed out to the students for further information associated with the campaign and its goals.
The IRC expects that at the end of the campaign, not only will persons be more conscious of hazard surrounding them, but they will also play a pro-active role in combating the risks that pose a threat to health, property life, and the environment.
IRC you still missing the point. A priority would be to address the health and safety issues regarding the use of wireless connection in schools. Prime example new initiative at the Newtown Primary.
Please also consider work-place hazards, particularly in relation to hand power tools. Frayed cables and make-shift fuses (tin-foil/nails!) are common. Also, the absence of earth continuity.
IRC? Health and Safety?
where ? in Dominica?
Gi me a break .
one example , a young man on a moped ridding down from Stockfarm, a 2 to 3 year old sitting infront of him, another 6 to 7 year old sitting behind him, no helmets overtaking me down hill ,busy road , traversed by Ministers of Government and people of all walks, rides past traffic Policeman standing beside his Police bike NO PROBLEM; why is that young man not heading up that same hill to the prisons in stock farm for deliberately putting lives in danger on an unroadworthy half assembled moped is beyond my comprehension . HEALTH AND SAFETY my big toe .
None of that in Dominica .Free for all .
Fantastic idea IRC!