By Erica Apeatua Addo
Tarkwa (W/R), May 02, GNA – The University of Mines and Technology (UMaT), Tarkwa, in collaboration with Gold Fields Ghana Limited (GFGL) has climaxed the 2025 World Day for Safety and Health at Work with a workplace safety and health symposium.
The event, held in Tarkwa brought together experts in the mining industry, officers from the security agencies, lectures, and students.
It was on the theme: “Revolutionizing health and safety: the role of AI and digitalization”.
Dr Isaac Mate, General Manager, Sustainability and Shared Value, MTN Ghana, delivering the keynote address urged the UMaT to take bold steps towards its success, noted this would facilitate AI deployment as a catalyst for change.
He suggested that AI should be a key component in the University’s strategic planning process so that they don’t meet here next year to have the same discussion.
“Next year, we want to see the UMaT establishing laboratories and incubation centres, where the institution will facilitate small groups of people and see how they can make good use of AI” the general manager said.
According to Mr Mate “As we speak, Universities worldwide are already utilizing AI to enhance teaching and learning. In the UMaT, for instance, all administrative tasks can be automated,
and data analytics can also support research, literature review, predictive modeling, and data-driven decision-making.
He encouraged students to acquire AI knowledge to enhance their progress and opportunities, adding, “It’s well-known that mining giants such as Gold Fields, Anglo American and Newmont are using AI to locate ore deposits and optimize their operations.”
Mr Elliot Twum, Senior Vice President and Managing Director of Gold Fields, in a speech read on his behalf said since 2021 Gold Fields had invested over US 85,000 dollars into this program.
He said many activities have been organized and simulated in their host communities, including road safety campaigns and explosive awareness, following the Appiatse incidents.
“Supporting these activities is better for Gold Fields because we are committed to promoting and achieving a workplace that is free from serious injuries and fatalities, and also guarantee that every employee returns home safe, healthy everyday” Mr Twum noted.
In addition, Professor Richard Kwasi Amankwah, Vice Chancellor of UMaT, said for the past four years, the University had set in place a protocol which worked through their Disaster and Emergency Management Hub.
The main idea was to engage the whole Tarkwa community to talk about emergency preparedness and resilience regarding health and safety.
He mentioned that the mining companies and the security agencies at the symposium deliberated on leveraging AI to improve safety and health standards at their respective workplaces.
“The mining companies have shared their ways of doing it and the security agencies have also done same, and there is some form of synergy regarding how we can learn from each other to promote health and safety at work” he remarked.
Mr Amankwah further said “We are looking not only within the mining companies, but to bring it down even to the small-scale mining level, where we can help these miners to apply health and safety at work, so our students can use this as a learning platform”
GNA
JP/KOA