THE American Chamber of Commerce in Guyana (AmCham Guyana), through the hosting of a Health, Safety, Security and Environmental (HSSE) Conference on Wednesday, has encouraged more Guyanese businesses to develop a culture of safety.

The conference, entitled ‘Preparing for Sustainable Development’, took place at the Marriott Hotel and targeted Chief Executive Officers (CEOs); Health and Safety Executives (HSEs), security professionals and technicians. It was hosted in collaboration with AmCham Trinidad and Tobago (TT) and featured key speakers such as President of AmChamTT, Patricia Ghany; Production Manager at ExxonMobil Guyana, Mike Ryan and CEO of Atlantic, Philip Mshelbila.

In his opening remarks to the conference, President of AmCham Guyana, Zulfikar Ally stated that there is no excuse for companies failing to adapt best practices in every aspect of their operations. Furthermore, he stated that it is incumbent for companies, including those in Guyana’s private sector, to raise their standards in HSSE if they wish to remain competitive.

In highlighting the motive of the conference, he stated its relevance is unquestionable in the context of Guyana and though much work has been done to meet HSSE standards, much more is outstanding.
“Our responsibility, therefore, does not end with our duties to meet our legal obligations but it extends to policies which must reflect compassion for the overall health and complete development of our employees in all aspects of their lives,” he said.

“As organisations we cannot, therefore, trivialise the impact we have on employees’ overall attitudes and their psychological and mental health. We have to rise to the challenge before us and ensure that an integral part of our operations extends beyond the protection of our people to the responsible development of people, their talents and their strengths.”

Ally also spoke to need for the consideration of the environment and its inhabitants throughout the operation of companies. With this in mind he lobbied for the development of robust environmental management programmes within the private sector.

Meanwhile, speaking too, President of AmChamTT, Patricia Ghany agreed that the connection to the environment and the risk to human capital are often overlooked. Ghany established that HSSE practices save lives and protect people and the future generation.
She assured that AmChamTT is proud to work along with its “sister” Chamber in Guyana and is ready to assist in all areas when the opportunity arises. Later in the programme, Production Manager at ExxonMobil Guyana, Mike Ryan made a presentation on the HSSE practices implemented at ExxonMobil.

He told the audience that over the years, ExxonMobil has realised that increasing levels of safety leadership is required as any company progresses. He presented to the audience the Hurt-based Approach method to Safety that ExxonMobil’s Upstream Companies use in personnel safety management.

He was able to show how other companies, should they take up the same methods, can improve safety at their workplace. Ryan stated that while most industries are doing better at identifying risks, for many in countries like Guyana, a challenge to decide to step into action from early on to prevent these risks remains. However, he drove home the point that no business objective should be pursued at the sacrifice of safety and steps must be taken by companies to ensure that their employees are empowered to make safe choices.