Timber recovery firm trains staff in marine safety

Thirty-four crew members of the Kete Krachi Timber Recovery Limited (KKTR), a Ghanaian-owned company operating the Volta Lake tree stumps salvaging concession, have undergone training in marine safety at the Regional Maritime University (RMU) at Nungua, a suburb of Accra.

At the instance of management of KKTR, the staff were trained in personal safety and social responsibility, personal survival techniques, basic fire prevention and firefighting and elementary first Aid.

Objective

According to the Chief Executive of KKTR, Mr Elkin Pianim, the objective of the training was to build the skills of the operating crew of the company to enhance their capacities in safe working practices, first aid, prevention, management and drowning treatment.

The President, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, in November 2018 inaugurated KKTR at its project site at Sedorm-Yiti in the Asuogyaman District in the Eastern Region as part of its One-District, One-Factory (1D1F) initiative for the district.

In addition to the use of the Shallow Harvest and Recovery Concept equipment, a Caterpillar-based mobile floating platform which locates trees by sonar, cuts and lifts them up into the barge (KKTR) also employs the diver-based salvage system which enables loggers to go underwater to cut trees and lift them up by the balloon system.

The Chairman of KKTR, Mr Francis Kalitsi, said the diver-based salvage system offered the company the opportunity to employ more youth in an effort to make fishing and transportation on the lake safe.