Four employees of the Public Entity Saba this week took part in weights and measurements training facilitated by Henk Bartels of the Dutch Radiocommunications Agency (Agentschap Telecom). The training combined theory with practical sessions where the participants could visit several locations on Saba that use weighing scales and fuel pumps at the gas station.
As part of the practical part of the training, the four participants, Jerome Matthew, Philbert Ryner, Jonas Charles, and Roelof Matthew, together with Bartels and Policy Advisor for Economic Affairs of the Public Entity Saba Courtney Hassell, paid visits to some establishments to check the weighing and measuring equipment. Visited were the supermarkets and a few other businesses that use scales, such as the waste facility, the baby clinic, the airport, the hospital, the gas station, and the cooking gas filling location.
The Calibration Act BES 2014 (IJKwet BES) prescribes that all weighing and measuring equipment that is used to determine a price and is used for trade or medical applications has to be inspected regularly to make sure that it measures and weighs correctly. This creates a fair playing field for entrepreneurs and also protects the consumers. New weighing and measuring equipment always have to be inspected and approved first before it is put into use. An instrument that has been inspected and approved receives a green sticker, usually placed in such a manner that the consumer can see it.
With four inspectors having completed the training and after their formal appointment by the government, the objective is to have regular inspections of the weights and measuring equipment on Saba.
The Radiocommunications Agency will keep providing support and training. The Agency was on Saba for training in 2018, and in 2019, three persons from Saba went to the Netherlands for training there. For Jerome Matthew, Jonas Charles, and Philbert Ryner, this week’s training was a refresher course as they had taken part in earlier training. At the end of the training on Thursday, October 6th, the four participants received a certificate.
Bartels of the Radiocommunications Agency visited St. Eustatius last week, where five new inspectors completed their training. In the coming days, Bartels will visit St. Maarten for training and an inspection at the gas stations.