Total initiates road safety education for the hearing-impaired

Total Petroleum Ghana Limited has organised a unique road safety education exercise for the School of the Deaf in the Savelugu district in the Northern Region as part of its Total Safety Cube programme.

This exercise, organised in collaboration with the National Road Safety Commission (NRSC) and Global Road Safety Partnership on 28th September 2017, is the company’s annual flagship programme aimed at creating and reinforcing road safety awareness among schoolchildren and teachers in high-risk areas.

With the assistance of a sign-language interpreter, the children at the School of the Deaf were taught how to interpret road signs effectively and taken through road safety exercises to help them understand the importance of road vigilance. With a teacher to guide them, they worked collaboratively through sign-language using the various road-sign materials contained in the Total Safety Cube donated by the company.

The Health Safety Environment and Quality (HSEQ) Manager of Total Ghana, Mr. Frank Boamah, explained that: ‘Total Ghana holds safety as a priority, hence the company’s commitment in organising the Total Safety Cube since 2013”. He added that for people who have not quite considered that a potential road user could have a particular challenge such exists at the Savelugu School of the Deaf, this campaign is an eye-opener and brings to bear the need to re-evaluate attitudes and approaches to safety for the physically challenged.

The Headmistress, Madam Gertrude Dassah, said that approximately four hundred students of the school are exposed to dangers posed by heavy-duty vehicles and commercial drivers. Besides this, some of the older wards - despite their challenge - commute on bicycles and motorbikes, therefore the utility of this education.

During the orientation session, the teachers expressed their gratitude for this initiative and appealed for further assistance from the public.

Addressing the gathering, the NRSC Manager for Tamale, Mr. Alex Ayattah, empathised with the school’s administration and assured them of doing more through his organisation to augment the efforts by Total Petroleum Ghana. He acknowledged the need to incorporate sign-language into their awareness creation exercises in order to reach this special public.

This Total Safety Cube campaign was held over a period of two weeks in Bolgatanga for approximately 4,000 schoolchildren in schools located along the Bolga-Navrongo highway. This was further extended to the Northern Regional capital, Tamale, where an additional 4,200 pupils in the Lamashegu, Tishigu and Chogu cluster of public schools benefitted. Each school received Total Safety Cube kits as tools to use for further demonstrations in their extracurricular activities.

The HSEQ Manager remarked that Total Ghana, which was recognised with the Brand of the Year (Environment and Safety) award by the Chamber of Petroleum Consumer (COPEC) Ghana, sees road safety as a commitment and an extension of its core corporate social responsibility and will continue to embark on road safety initiatives through collaborations with its partners.