The Fourth Annual All Risk Reduction and Safety Fair will be held on the grounds of the Department of Agriculture on Friday, June 15, from 9 a.m. to 1.00 p.m. under the theme “Safer Practices Equal Safer Lives.”
Digicel is the Platinum Sponsor as was the case last year. At a press conference, on Monday, June 11, announcing the event, the telecommunications company donated US$2,000, the equivalent of EC$5,400, towards the sponsorship of the fair.
“We have enjoyed working with Digicel and we hope that this working relationship will continue for a long time,” said Bancroft Battick, Chairman of the Essential Services Sub-committee of the Department of Disaster Management. “Safety is everybody’s business, and over the past years we have been labouring this point about how important it is for everyone to give attention to safety.”
He said that, like before, the fair would focus on construction and road safety as well all other types of safety. “We are inviting all persons to come out and be part of this year’s Safety Fair,” he went on. “We are seeing that since its commencement, four years ago, that it has grown every year and we hope that this year would be no different. We have sought to involve schoolchildren as, basically, they are the ones to encourage their parents about safety matters.
“For example, they should put on their seat belts when entering their vehicles, or get off the cellular phones when driving to avoid distraction, reduce accidents and hence injuries and deaths. Most of the accidents…on the roads are avoidable and are due to our practices. We need to take this more seriously at all levels of society.”
Digicel’s Corporate Sales Manager, Colwayne Pickering, said his company saw the whole aspect of safety of paramount importance. He stressed that Digicel would undertake to promote safety in all of its public relations materials and systems, as well as in the schools where children could adopt safety practices at a young age and develop them as part of their lives as they grew older.
“That is the kind of thing we are trying to do from now, so that the children will have safety practices as a second nature,”Pickeringstated. “We can then have safer roads and other safer environments and reduce the injury and death rate. We are therefore proud to be part of the Safety Fair, and to support safety as a component of the larger aspects of what we do at Digicel.”
Director of Disaster Management, Melissa Meade, said in part: “The Safety Fair will look at the whole gamut of hazards…and we are encouraging all persons to come out and learn something, or you may be able to teach us something. We join in thanking Digicel for its support, on behalf of the Department of Disaster Management Committee and all the agencies involved in the event.”
The programme for the opening ceremony of the Safety Fair will be chaired by Mr. Battick who, in addition to his other responsibilities, is Acting Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Infrastructure. The Invocation will be by Pastor Gerard Gumbs; and those delivering remarks will be Nurse Serene Carter-Davis, the 2011 Risk Reduction Award Winner; Deputy Governor, Stanley Reid; and Commissioner of Police, Rudolph Proctor.
