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ew people have faced the same hurdles as Florence Anyane has in her OSH career in Ghana. She has had to prove her worth in highly dangerous industries and among workforces that have sometimes shown little respect for her gender.
UNCHARTERED WATERS Florence Anyane became Ghana’s first female Chartered IOSH Member in September 2019. But her journey was littered with obstacles.
‘I started with a degree in environmental management studies, so my national service was spent doing environmental monitoring in mines,’ Florence says. ‘An old mine site needed to be backfilled, and I asked to observe the hazards involved as it was done. One of the contractors doing the backfilling needed a safety officer and, as I’d already done a diploma in OSH with the ICM [Institute of Commercial
Management in the UK], I was qualified. I had an idea of risk and how to identify it. So that was my first role in OSH.’ For Florence, it was a tough place to start. ‘It was a male-dominated industry. This type of environment is unlike anything you can imagine. I was disrespected by the guys, which is something that makes a lot of women drop out of the OSH profession in Ghana. The guys would say: “What is a woman doing here? You should be at home cooking for your husband. Those are the only technologies that you know about.” It takes a strong person to stick with it.’ Florence says her bosses weren’t much better: ‘I realised I was not being seen as a change-maker in safety. Some bosses would never give me credit for anything while my male colleagues were praised as being the bright sparks. I went through a lot of embarrassment and insults and shaky moments in my career. There were times when
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