Ghana Welding Bureau
The Ghana Welding Bureau (GWB) is an autonomous non-profit professional institute created under the auspices of the Ministry of Energy and the Petroleum Commission through the Accelerated Oil and Gas Capacity Building Programme (AOGC) of the Government of Ghana.
Areas of Focus
Welding education and training
Welding training in the informal sector
Careers in welding
Welding standards in Ghana
Welding qualification and certification for industry
Occupational Health, Safety and Environment (OHSE)
About GWB
The GWB was established to oversee the development of the welding industry in Ghana and provide certified and internationally trained welding professionals for the oil and gas industry and other sectors of the economy. The GWB pursues this objective through the creation of platforms for education, training, qualification, and certification of personnel involved in welding technology and allied technologies through the exchange of scientific and technical information.
H.E Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo
Statement from the Minister for Energy
It is a great pleasure to announce the launch of a Ghana Welding Bureau (GWB) in the country. A welding bureau created under the auspices of the Petroleum Commission to oversee the development of a world class welding industry in Ghana.
GWB was established to fill a void in the oil and gas industry. An industry with a high demand for specialised welders to play key roles in a high-risk environment; yet, with inadequate number of local welders with the requisite certifications to fill these roles. Over the years, Ghana’s upstream petroleum industry has lost huge revenues due to the non-availability of internationally certified welders, although there are thousands of local welders in the country.
The idea to establish the Bureau was birthed four years after the launch of the Accelerated Oil and Gas Capacity Building Programme (AOGC) by H.E the President Nana Addo Dankwa Akuffo Addo in November 2017. The AOGC programme was established to enhance Ghanaian participation in the upstream petroleum industry through training, capacity building of technical/vocational institutions, provision of business and management training for SMEs to participate fully in Ghana’s upstream petroleum industry.
Four years on, a key aspect of that vision has become what we now know as the GWB. The Bureau is mandated to create and ensure that a pool of internationally certified welders is always available to exploit oil, gas, and other mineral resources in the country.
The welding industry is burdened with challenges such as non-regulation, lack of qualification, accreditation, operating standards, certification, and qualified instructors. This makes the industry uncontrolled, uncoordinated, and underdeveloped.
In a bid to overcome these challenges, structures are in place and still being put in place to ensure that the bureau meets international standards and the changing needs of the industry. These structures have been put in place following discussions with industry leading academic, technical, and vocational institutions such as the Southern Alberta Institute of Technology (SAIT) and Northern Alberta Institute of Technology (NAIT) among other notable institutions.
Measures have been put in place to ensure that faculty, curriculum, facilities and the learning environment meet international standards. Thus, Ghanaian students and technicians seeking to make an impact in the welding industry will have that goal realised following enrolment and graduation from the GWB.
I thank all stakeholders who have played key roles in ensuring that this dream is realised. I charge all our stakeholders to ensure that the GWB follows the same trajectory of success as other international leading welding institutions. I trust that a commitment to this charge will foster a determined spirit in the students to sharpen their skills to meet the ever-changing requirements of the upstream petroleum industry.
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Certification activities for welding personnel.
In relation to training of artisans and professionals, Accelerated Oil and Gas Capacity (AOGC), which is the core secretariat of GWB and a unit of Petroleum Commission has been involved in capacity building for welders in the informal sector. Some of these training are:
Ghana Navy
in the area of TIG and MIG welding of specialized materials such as stainless steel at Regional Maritime University.
Commission for Technical and Vocational Education and Training (COTVET)
Training of artisans (apprentices and master-craft) in welding quality assurance.
Technical Institutes/Universities:
for master-craft welders under the TVET project sponsored by the Government of Ghana.
Training of Welders in Canada to acquire international welding certification such as CBW and AWS:
These trainees are serving as training-the-trainer professionals to further the objects of GIW in Ghana.
GWB through its training has built the capacity for academic staff in various institutions
where courses such as High National Diploma in Welding and Advanced Welding Technician Certificate are issued. In addition, Bachelor of Technology (B. Tech) in Welding Engineering is also run by Institutions of Higher Learning
Partners / Stakeholders
Contact Us
C/O Petroleum Commission
P.O. Box CT228 Cantonments, Accra