Guyana commissions first CVQ Level 3 OSH centre of excellence

A new Occupational Safety and Health Centre of Excellence has been commissioned at the New Amsterdam Technical Institute.

It will provide Guyana and the wider Caribbean with a dedicated facility for training and developing highly skilled workplace safety professionals.

The facility will serve as the official home of the CVQ Level 3 Occupational Safety and Health programme and a national and regional training hub.

It offers practical training, applied learning, field-based exercises and competency development.

Minister of Labour and Manpower Planning, Keoma Griffith during remark at the commissiong ceremony

of the OSH centre of excellence

Minister of Labour and Manpower Planning, Keoma Griffith said the facility comes at a critical time as Guyana’s economy rapidly expands across construction, manufacturing, mining, infrastructure and the oil and gas sector, creating new workplaces, technologies and occupational risks.

“Every workplace accident is one too many. Every workplace injury is one too many, and every workplace fatality is one too many,” Minister Griffith said, stressing that protecting workers is both a legal and moral responsibility.

He said the centre will help Guyana build the human capacity needed to identify hazards before they become accidents, while strengthening the ability of employers, supervisors and workers to practise workplace safety.

Meanwhile, Minister of Education Sonia Parag described the initiative as a direct fulfilment of the government’s commitment to expanding Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET), noting that education must go beyond access to infrastructure to focus on competencies and practical skills.

She said the centre’s significance extends beyond the facility itself, as it is intended to support technical skills development nationally while serving as a regional hub for the Caribbean.

Minister of Education, Sonia Parag

“The success of this training centre will not be measured by the building itself, or the equipment in that building by itself. It will be by the training that is administered to those who are or will be getting into that centre,” Minister Parag said.

The initiative forms part of ExxonMobil Guyana and its partners’ US$100 million, ten-year Greater Guyana Initiative, which supports education and training, economic development and healthcare.

The project also involves the Ministry of Education, NORME International and the New Amsterdam Technical Institute.

Minister Parag said the investment represents more than the construction of a facility but contributes to Guyana’s broader economic vision by equipping citizens with skills that can support employment, productivity and generational development.

The new centre is the first of its kind in Guyana and the Caribbean to serve the CVQ Level 3 Occupational Safety and Health programme, positioning Guyana to strengthen technical excellence and workplace safety capacity across the region.

 Source : https://dpi.gov.gy/guyana-commissions-first-cvq-level-3-osh-centre-of-excellence/