Enhanced Firefighting and Rescue Skills Make Agata a Safer Place

07/11/2019


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    The Agata Emergency Response Team (ERT) is composed of  volunteer-employees who serve as trainers for other co-workers.  Leading up to this year’s Safety Olympics, the ERT prepared the participants for over three weeks while utilizing all the company’s firefighting equipment – all in addition to fulfilling their day-to-day responsibilities as Agata employees.

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    In addition to enhancing the skills of its responders, Agata also uses its Safety Olympics as a tool to promote team work, a stronger bond and an active partnership with the Bureau of Fire Protection.

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    The Agata ERT continues to search for its next generation of responders to defend its National Fire Brigade Championship title.  The annual Safety Olympics is the training ground for the next ERT to compete as well as respond in times of emergencies.

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    The Bucket Relay Challenge – so far one of Agata’s most challenging – utilizes an elevated ramp from which water is dispensed to put out a fire while team mates ferry buckets across a 10-meter distance until the fire is out.

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    OJT students from partner universities also participate in emergency response training.  These students are rotated across the company’s different departments to learn Agata’s dynamics and team work.

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    Over 60 personnel are now part of Agata’s volunteer responders who are trained and equipped in firefighting and rescue, as tested during its second Safety Olympics.

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    MGB-Caraga Safety Representative Zalde Merano (left) addresses the responders and stresses the importance of safety and health as well as necessary skills to respond in times of emergency. Agata’s partnership with public and private organizations further ensures the proper implementation of its advocacies and community programs.


Skills trainings, fire safety awareness and friendly competition mark Agata’s second Safety Olympics

Tubay, Agusan del Norte / July 2019 – The road to reaching almost 17 million safe man hours has been an inspiring journey for the Agata organization – more so for its Emergency Response Team, which has been at the forefront of both regional and national safety competitions, and bagging victories under the company’s banner in recent years.

And to further underscore safety and health awareness as an attribute among all its employees, the company rolled-out the second Agata Safety Olympics among office and field personnel as well as contractors and on-the-job trainees from partner Mindanao State University who pitted their skills against each other to win top honors at the homegrown competition.

Spirit of competition

Responders from all departments and stages of mining operations underwent daily training conducted by ERT members for almost the entire month leading-up to the event:

  • Fire Extinguishment – A male and a female firefighter run a 20-meter dash while carrying a three-kilogram fire extinguisher to put out two petrol-based fire spots in the shortest time possible.

 

  • Bucket Relay – A team member shoots water into a target drum barrel from an elevated position while other firefighters run back and forth while carrying buckets of water across a 10-meter distance from the source to the elevated post.

 

  • Ladder-Raising with Target – Eight responders erect a ladder which their nozzleman climbs and from which he sprays three targets on the ground.

 

  • First Aid Relay – Eight responders must perform different first aid procedures in different stations and carry “victims” to the ambulance in the shortest time possible.

 

  • Fire Fighting and Rescue – The latest addition involves a seven-man team to put out a fire using a firetruck and water hose as well as execute a rescue extraction of a fire victim. Each team must break through a wall using an axe then carry the “victim” to a safe location.

Agata’s league of volunteer ERT members is drawn from participants of the Safety Olympics.  These aspirants are further trained and screened for provincial, regional and national competitions.  The company’s initiative to train more local elite responders also serves as the first line of defense of its vulnerable communities, which are prone to floods, forest fires and typhoons.

To date, Agata trained over 500 new rescuers who comprise the eight Community ERTs in the area.  These teams are frontliners during rescue and assistance operations in times of natural calamities and disasters.  Meantime, the Agata Safety Olympics has become one of its newest and most highly-participated yearly activities in its mine site.

Accolades

“It’s really inspiring that Agata continues what it has started in terms of developing more responders in the communities,” exclaimed Tubay Fire Marshall Guillermo P. Abarquez as he observed the safety drills during the event. These drills were taken from the Bureau of Fire Protection’s (BFP) Fire Olympics, which is conducted annually every Fire Prevention Month.

“This activity could spark more companies or establishments to conduct such competitions and increase awareness and skills,” he added.

“Agata’s support is really motivating – also its personnel’s dedication throughout the series of challenges,” said Basic Life Support (BLS) Instructor Armando Omac of the Philippine National Red Cross.  He was joined by colleague Roland P. Galano in conducting BLS and Advance First Aid Training in Agata.

Prior to the event, the Agata ERT also taught basic firefighting and rescue to its current roster of OJTs – mining engineering students from the University of the Philippines, Caraga State University, Mindanao State University (Zamboanga) and the University of Southern Philippines.  It likewise included Geology students from Adamson University and Environmental Science students from MSU-Iligan.

Agata Mining Ventures Inc. is a joint nickel laterite joint venture project of TVI Resource Development Philippines Inc. and MRL Nickel Philippines Inc.  Its acclaimed ERT currently holds the National Fire Brigade Championship Title from the Field Safety Completion of the last Annual National Mine Safety and Environment Conference.

It is also a three-year championship title holder of the BFP’s Provincial Fire Olympics in Agusan del Norte.  On the regional level, Agata likewise cornered one championship and four minor awards from the first Ultimate Firefighting Challenge of BFP Caraga.

The company is presently geared towards expanding its current ISO 14001:2015 Environmental Management System Certification to two ISO accreditations: Occupational Health and Safety Management System, and Quality Management System.

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