DOMLEC launches Health and Safety Month

Electricity is very useful friend but it can be extremely deadly, if users are not careful.

Hence DOMLEC is promoting occupational health and safety as the electricity production and distribution company recognizes May as Health and Safety Month under the theme: "Safety and Quality, Our Values without Compromise".
Speaking at the opening ceremony on May 5, 2015, Health and Safety Officer Brandon Henry said as the company recognizes Health and Safety Month it is mindful of the various risks associated with the nature of the job.

"The company continues to conduct regular risk assessments not only to identify potential risks but to ensure that the occupational risks and environmental impacts are effectively managed and reduced as low as it's reasonable," he said.

Meanwhile, General Manager of DOMLEC Bertilia Leblanc-McKenzie added that "the company recognizes that poor health affects performance and productivity. We know that DOMLEC provides an essential service and a healthy and safe human resource base is critical to our delivery of this service."

Leblanc-McKenzie continued: "It is within this context that DOMLEC has developed its occupational safety and health programme. When the programme commenced several years ago, the focus of the safety component was on the operations department because of the nature of the work.

"The health component of our safety and health programme focuses on encouraging all employees to value good health; this is done through the annual healthy life style programme."

She said that the goal at DOMLEC is to achieve world class safety by 2018 and this would mean that all employees have internalized the belief that all safety incidents are avoidable.

"The second thing it would mean that there is no lost time incidents and the third thing is that DOMLEC leads the way in Dominica in both employee and public safety," said McKenzie.

She added: "To realize these goals each employee including the general manager must be committed to the achievement of that goal and each employee must demonstrate this commitment through our attitudes and our behaviours.
"In keeping with this, each employee at DOMLEC must submit two proactive safety reports per year," she said.

McKenzie said: "At DOMLEC we encourage our employees to make safety a way of life; that is to say, practicing safety not only at work at DOMLEC but at home or in any other environment within which our employees find ourselves." The activities which DOMLEC has planned for Health and Safety Month are as follows:

May 11, 2015 – May 22, 2015: Visiting of primary schools from Portsmouth to Soufriere with the focus on Grade five students. May 15, 2015; Health checks at the Roseau and Portsmouth Offices
May 16, 2015: Football Match with DBS on the Newtown Savannah May 22, 2015: Mini expo at the Peebles Park May 30, 2015: Walk-a-thon to Melvina's Bar located at Pointe Mitchel May 31, 2015: Family Fun Day at Macouchrie Beach