THE Nigeria Social Insurance Trust Fund (NSITF) has said that safety at workplaces is a fundamental principle and right of workers which employers must ensure in order to safeguard work environments and attain accidents and injury-free workplaces.
This was the core of the message of Health and Safety Unit of Kagini branch of NSITF in Kubwa Abuja in commemoration of the 2023 World Day for safety and health at work.
The unit, led by its, Head, Mrs Uzonwa Ogbe, marched the streets of Kubwa, preaching the message of prevention of accidents and injuries at workplace by ensuring that safety and health principles are adhered to by employers of labour.
Mrs Ogbe said, “We are celebrating World Health and Safety Day. And the best action for the celebration is to be on the streets to inform and educate employers of labour and workers alike the importance of safety and health at the workplace. We are creating awareness on the importance of taking preventive measures in the workplace so as to avoid any form of accidents because the health and safety of workers is paramount to us.
“Basically NSITF is known as the government’s employee compensation agency that pays compensation to victims of work-incurred injuries and so on. When workers have accidents or injury in the course of carrying out their work, the NSITF comes in to pay compensation. But today, we are not on the streets for the business of paying compensation. Our message today is on prevention before compensation, because I don’t think anybody would like to be compensated, maybe for losing one arm rather than going home fully the way you came to work.
“This unit (Health and Safety) is a very critical unit in terms of creating awareness, educating employers and employees on the need to create a safe working environment for their workers. For the fact that people come to work to earn a living to take care of their families doesn’t mean they shouldn’t be given proper care and prevented from accidents.
“The core of our message to employers is that they should make the working environment safe and conducive because it is a fundamental principle and fundamental rights of every human being to be safe while at work regardless of race, affiliation, or political status. We are saying that safety is very paramount.
“While we are encouraging both government-owned organisations and private sector businesses to key into NSITF occupational health and safety scheme and begin by making the contribution, we are most importantly calling on employers to take the issue of prevention of workplace accidents serious and begin to do the needful by providing safety tools and making working environment conducive for workers.”
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