Staff of NSC goes through fire prevention drill

Kumasi, Feb 18, GNA - A day's workshop designed to build the capacit= y of the staff of the National Sports Council (NSC) in Ashanti for fire prevention has been held at the Baba Yara Sports Stadium in Kumasi. They were taken through "causes, classes and prevention of fire" and=

had hands-on, on the use of fire extinguishers.

Additionally, they were taught to detect faulty gas cylinders by personnel of the Ghana National Fire Service (GNFS). Divisional Officer John Saaka, in-charge of Fire Training at the Regional Office, identified carelessness and ignorance as major causes of=

fire disasters in the country. There was therefore the need for sustained public education to bring=

down the incidence of fire.

He cautioned against the practice of connecting multiple electrical gadgets to a single socket and said this was dangerous and must be avoide= d. Divisional Officer Saaka advised the people to be alert and ensure t= hat faulty gas cylinders in their homes and work places were promptly repaire= d. Government agencies, departments and organizations, he said, should also abide by the Legislative Instrument (LI) on fire, which makes it mandatory for them to train their staff on fire and provide fire extinguishers at their work places. He said failure to do this was punishable by law. Mr Micheal Smart-Abbey, Safety Officer of the NSC, said the workshop conformed to regulations by FIFA, the world's football governing body, wh= ich demands that sports councils educated their staff on fire, so that they would know what to do in case of fire at the stadium. He urged the participants to take the workshop seriously to enhance thei= r capacity to prevent fires and said the training would soon be extended to=

staff of the NSC in Volta, Central and Brong-Ahafo Regions.