Leader Guyana Puts Women-Owned Businesses in Safe Hands

On Friday, June 26th, Leader Guyana hosted a Health, Safety and Environment (HSE) training session for women-owned businesses at the Georgetown Chamber of Commerce and Industry (GCCI) conference room on 156 Waterloo Street.

Key points

A one-day HSE and basic first-aid training session for women-owned businesses, held in Georgetown on June 26th.
Facilitated by Safe Hands, an HSE training company operating in Guyana for over eight years.
Delivered as part of Leader Guyana’s corporate social responsibility work in the local business community.

The one-day training was facilitated by Safe Hands, an HSE training company that has been operating in Guyana for over eight years. Founder David Bennett walked participants through the day’s focus, which included basic first-aid training designed to help ordinary people respond before emergency professionals arrive on scene.

David Bennett of Safe Hands leads a first-aid demonstration during HSE training in Guyana, using a CPR manikin at the GCCI conference room in Georgetown. — David Bennett, Founder of Safe Hands, leads a hands-on first-aid demonstration.

What the HSE Training Covered

Bennett, who is originally from Yorkshire in the United Kingdom, noted that while the session was built around women-owned businesses, the skills being taught apply to everyone. He stressed that the more people who become familiar with basic first aid and HSE practices, the better, since that knowledge can be the difference between life and death in the moments before help arrives.

That framing shaped the day. Rather than treating health and safety as paperwork, the session focused on what a business owner or employee can physically do in the first few minutes of an incident, when an ambulance is still on the road.

Managing Director of Leader Guyana, Theresa Madray, charged participants to treat the training as more than a certificate to file away. She urged them to carry the habits back to their businesses and their homes, and to make safety a routine rather than something that only gets attention after something goes wrong.

Theresa Madray, Managing Director of Leader Guyana, a workforce solutions company supporting Guyana's energy sector. — Theresa Madray, Managing Director of Leader Guyana.

Why Leader Guyana Got Involved

This training falls under Leader Guyana’s corporate social responsibility efforts, and the company doesn’t see it as a headline moment. It’s one part of a broader commitment to strengthening the local business community that supports Guyana’s growing energy sector, in whatever practical way makes sense.

Everyone goes to work safely, and everyone gets home safely.

That line is Leader Guyana’s own operating philosophy, and the standard applies to the workforce the company places across oil and gas, marine, construction, and other industries every day. Extending a version of that same safety culture to women-owned businesses in Georgetown felt like a natural fit, not a stretch.

Small businesses carry the same risk

Safety culture in Guyana tends to get discussed at the level of offshore installations and major contractors, where HSE systems are already mandatory and heavily audited. The businesses that supply those operations, many of them small and locally owned, often carry the same everyday risk with a fraction of the training budget.

The company didn’t organize this training to be the center of attention. It partnered with an established local expert in Safe Hands, stepped back, and let the training speak for itself.

About Leader Guyana

Leader Guyana is a workforce solutions partner supporting Guyana’s energy sector with recruitment and staffing, immigration services, payroll solutions, and in-country support. Backed by the Leader Engineering Group’s more than 20 years of international experience, Leader Guyana has spent over eight years building a local team that understands Guyana’s Local Content Policy, labour laws, and the pace the oil and gas industry moves at.

Safety runs through everything the company does, from the contractors it places on job sites to community initiatives like this HSE training. Leader Guyana works with operators, contractors, and local businesses across oil and gas, marine, construction, and several other industries, with a dedicated relationship manager approach rather than a call centre model.