Fides Media Living the Faith
To reduce what it calls prevalent risks in workplaces, a social security institution in Africa known as Nigerian Social Insurance Trust Fund (NSITF), has urged Nigerian employers and employees to put the necessary measures in place to ensure optimum safety of all in their places of work.
The Awka Branch Manager of NSITF, Kaosy Ejidike (9th left) with some of the participants after the workshop, at IDK Learning Centre, Awka, March 2, 2022.
NSITF stated this at a 2022 one-day Stakeholders Engagement Workshop on Safety and Health Initiatives held at IDK Learning Centre, Awka, Anambra State on Wednesday, March 2, with the theme: “Enhancing Productivity through Prevention of Workplace Accidents and Promotion of Occupational Safety and Health in Construction Industry”.
In his address to mark the event, the Enugu Regional Manager of Nigerian Social Insurance Trust Fund, Mr Tony Eke, tasked employers on the need to provide safe working environment for the employees, saying that when the work environment was safe, the employee would feel safe and be more productive.
Presenting his paper on the topic: Behaviour Based Safety (BBS), one of the resource persons, Dr Okechukwu Mba, described safety as the responsibility of every individual. According him, people who were safe at their places of work, were likely to enjoy the work which they did.
Dr Mba advised against poor attention to existing risks and poor record keeping which, he said, encouraged bad workplace behaviour. He tasked all on good attitude, which, he observed, was a key towards ensuring safety at place of work.
Pointing out that there was no job which did not involve risks, the resource person encouraged employers to often conduct hazard assessment so as to possibly reduce to zero work related accidents.
In her remarks, the host and Awka Branch Manager of Nigerian Social Insurance Trust Fund, Kaosy Ejidike, expressed delight over the success of the workshop, which, she said, was aimed at showcasing the mission of NSITF.
She urged the participants to take home and put into practice all they learnt at the workshop, as well as key into the existing Employees’ Compensation Scheme (ECS), to enable them and their employees to enjoy the numerous compensations which the scheme offered.
Ejidike called on employers to register their companies with the names of their workers and make renewable payment of 1% of the workers’ emolument so as to enable them and their employees to enjoy the benefits attached to the Employees’ Compensation Scheme.
Fides gathered that the ESC which was established by the Employees’ Compensation Act (2010), among others, provided compensations to employees who suffered from occupational diseases or sustained injuries from work-related accidents in the course of employment.
The ESC which was known as a ‘no fault scheme’, also provided compensation to dependents of employees who died in the course of employment, ensured the availability of funds to pay compensation regardless of the financial position of the employers and provided loss of productivity compensation for employer.
The workshop attracted many employers and employees from various industries, as well as staff members of the Nigerian Social Insurance Trust Fund.