The Guyana Bureau of Standards, as part of its drive to sensitize the public to metric conversion, last Friday held a sensitization workshop for staff of the Guyana National Newspapers Ltd, during which employees were briefed on the system generally, and the benefits of metrification in a global economy. Resource persons were GNBS officials Hemraj Samchara, Metrification Officer; and Lloyd David, Public Relations Officer, who admonished participants to develop the confidence in themselves and get about using the metric system. Noting that it is a relatively simple exercise, they shared with the workers a chart which makes it easy to convert length, volume, mass time, and temperature, to the standard measuring units.
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Samchara said that the only legal system for trade, according to Act Number 4 of 2001, is the metric system.
Other areas looked at included standardization, product certification, standards compliance, management systems and standards information.
As regards weights and measures, the officials were pleased to announce that about 97 per cent of the scales used by vendors and others in the marketing arena are calibrated in metric measurements. It is now left for the consumers to ensure they join the band and ensure there is a unified approach to calculating weights and measures, among other things.
The officials said manufacturers should also ensure that devices used in their manufacturing operations and in the conduct of trade are calibrated twice yearly, so as to ensure they are working accurately and at the same time, avoid cheating themselves or customers.