Author: BERNARD LUGONGO
AfricaPress-Tanzania: DRIVERS of trucks for carrying dangerous cargoes to and from Dar es Salaam Port have a big role to play especially in avoiding accidents, which claim hundreds of lives that is according to the Government Chemist Laboratory Authority (GCLA).
In the wake of this, the authority saw it is necessary to spread awareness education among the drivers over proper transportation of dangerous cargoes chemicals.
On Tuesday, the GCLA trained nearly 100 drivers from Tanzania, Rwanda and Burundi, who drive trucks carrying dangerous cargo from the port to the neighbouring regions and countries.
Acting Chief Government Chemist, Sabanitho Mtega, said the drivers need education over handling such dangerous goods to protect people’s health and environment.
Following the training, Mr Mtega was upbeat that enlightened drivers would contribute to reducing accidents.
“It’s my hope that after such training the drivers would adhere to regulations and safely transport the chemicals to their destinations with a lot of care,” Mr Mtega, said while officially closing the two-day seminar in Dar es Salaam.
However, he asked the drivers to be good ambassadors in spreading the same knowledge to their fellow motorists, who could not attend the session.
Elaborating, the Chemist reminded the drivers as well as the public that chemicals may have deadly effects if not properly handled, noting that they can cause diseases like cancer, skin diseases and respiratory diseases.
Some participants commended the organizers of the training, saying it imparted to them new knowledge on safety on the roads.
Reached for a comment, Mr Abdulrazak Omar, a driver from Ramada Transport Company, thanked the GCLA for the training opportunity, however, advised that the education should be extended to people living along the major roads, since they are also part of causing chemical accidents.
“There is tendency among the people to rush to overturned fuel tankers to collect fuel, this has been causing accidents, and government should educate them too,” he said.
Another driver from Burundi, Mr Ndayishimiye Haruna, admitted that drivers have been driving trucks with dangerous cargo without knowledge, so the training was useful to them.
