The Nigerian Air Force (NAF) said it would continue to train its personnel in order to produce a highly professional and disciplined force.
AVM Musa Mukthar, the Air Officer Commanding (AOC) Air Training Command, stated this on Thursday in Kaduna at a one-day seminar on “Aircraft Maintenance and Operational Health of Personnel’’.
Mukthar said that the seminar was on safety issues which touched NAF operations, aircraft maintenance and occupational health.
The theme of the training is “Promoting good Safety Culture as a Behavioural Change Tool towards Achieving NAF Training Efficiency.’’
Mukthar said that occupational health and safety were critical to the NAF operations.
“The NAF being a multi-disciplinary organisation, where ergonomics and human factor has become key component of safety, occupational health and safety therefore, has an important role to play in training,’’ he said.
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According to him, the seminar has been structured on workplace safety and hazards and their associated risks while ensuring efficient and effective training of personnel to meet the ever-changing complexities and environment of military operations.
He said that the evaluation and review of the NAF working environment as well as how it impacts on individual personnel was highly essential.
“It is most reassuring that the current leadership of the NAF which without doubt is the elite service of the Armed Forces, recognises the indispensability of human capacity development towards meeting the growing demand of operation,’’ he said.
One of the facilitators, Mr Edwin Nebedum, said that safety in workplace was basic expectation of employees.
Nebedum said that occupational health and safety had expanded to almost every workplace environment, including the office, airplane and laboratory.
He added that health and safety were important for the protection of staff, visitors, customers, sub-contractors and others who have something to do with an organisation in any way.
“You have a duty of care under the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 but more than that, it’s good practice to adhere to health and safety laws.
“Organisations that flout the law face losing staff, higher recruitment cost , lower retention rates and lower profitability,’’ he said.
Nebedum stressed that workplace health and safety was very crucial for the health and wellbeing of all personnel across all industries because of the unacceptability of human injury or loss in any organisation.