Senegambia Beach Hotel Holds Fire Safety Training

The Management of Senegambia Beach Hotel, one of the leading hotels in the country, last Friday held a passing out ceremony of their annual three-week fire safety training workshop for its staff.

The ceremony was aimed at capacitising the staff to be in a good position to tackle situations in the event of any unforeseen circumstances. The programme is also a mandatory requirement in the administration of the hotel.

Speaking at the occasion, Mr. Juergen Odenwald, General Manager of Senegambia Beach Hotel, underscored the importance his hotel attaches to ensuring a safe and secure tourism industry.

According to Mr. Juergen, health and safety is one of the most important requirements in the operations of hotels worldwide. “We therefore will not relent in our desire to train and equip our staff very well in case of any emergency”.

He also went on to commend the participants for their commitment and determination and urged them to keep up the momentum.

For his part, Mr. Francis Gomez, human resource manager, Senegambia Hotel, said that Senegambia Beach Hotel has one of the best safety records in the hotel industry around the world.

“In the last five years, we have only had two small incidents of fire outbreaks which were immediately contained. However, we cannot rest on our oars because we are safe. As part of our continued improvement process, we will continue to strive to improve on an already good record to make it even better,” he said.

According to Mr. Gomez, beyond this training programme, Senegambia Hotel is looking at new and innovative measures to ensure even greater safety and security for its staff and guests. “At Senegambia, we regard safety and security as important as quality of service and productivity which are the essential responsibilities of Senegambia staff and workers. Safety an security is the responsibility of both our staff and guests,” he noted.Also speaking earlier, Mr. Sang Ndow, divisional fire officer for the KanifingMunicipality, described the fire service in general as a noble profession. Mr. Ndow congratulated the participants and urged them to make best use of the knowledge gained during the training programme.

Other speakers at the occasion included Captain Jatta, commanding officer, Tourism Security Unit, Mrs. Binta Jobe, a representative from The Gambia Tourism Authority and Mr. Fernando Mendy, safety officer, Senegambia Beach Hotel.