Safety expert, Samuel Kofi, has bemoaned a weak commitment to safety following the Kintampo waterfall tragedy which has left at least 21 students dead.
The tragedy occurred when strong winds buffeted a nearby tree hurling it down on frenzied revellers.
More than a dozen were critically injured.
Discussing the disaster, the expert who is with the Institute of Safety and Environmental Professionals faulted safety systems, stressing that ‘accidents don’t just happen’ and ‘trees don’t just fall’.
Mr. Kofi said a robust safety system should have identified the dangers posed by the location of the tree and authorities in charge should have known the age of the tree and the soil system around it.
He added that a mindset of risk assessment should have factored in the possibility of the tree falling, where it is likely to fall and what danger it is likely to pose when it does fall.
Mr. Kofi said the popular refrain when accidents happen in Ghana is ‘we blame nature, we blame the devil’.
The safety expert said in the United Kingdom , there are laws like corporate manslaughter act under which persons are held liable when disasters like the freak tragedy at Kintampo happen.
He called for a comprehensive safety audit of all tourist sites to determine what needs to be done to avert disasters waiting to happen.
Source: Today
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Thank you Kofi and Asibe. You've said it all. Trees don't live forever. As we promote tree planting so should we promote tree pruning and felling when age and disease catches up. No sooner had l left the Achimota School Admi block some 2 years ago than a worn out, dried and a sick branch dropped right on my head as l made my towards Aggrey House. Somebody should be on the lookout. TREES DON'T LIVE FOREVER.
Only few pple including me agree with u. If one knows little about science he will blame almost evil force for almost every disaster or accident
Ahh Kofi you have said the most explanatory facts leading to the accident. I believe you have stayed in Akurase on a hilly place before like me so you know how trees big and small alike behave and eventually fall downhill as it happened at Kintampo. I find it very difficult to understand people who blame evil forces. I am from a village of that nature and it had happened on several occasions when it rains and the soil become loosened. Trees fall just like that spoiling our farms and sometimes blocking the paths to the farms.