Make health and safety training compulsory for schools, Alicho tells ABSG
Abia State Government has been called upon to make health and safety training compulsory for schools in the state in order to save lives.
The Programme Director of Blue Bull Global Ltd, Engineer Emmanuel Kalu Alicho, gave this advice in Umuahia during a one day seminar on First aid and management training organised for private schools in Abia State in collaboration with the state Ministry of Education and Abia State branch of National Association of Proprietors of Private Schools (NAPPS).
Engr. Alicho said First aid and safety management in schools is a programme that cannot be over-emphasised as the “first step to manage health in public schools and to afford the management of private schools the opportunity to be safety conscious in the face of hazards or emergency situations in the institutions.
Because of the importance of this training, Alicho wants the state House of Assembly to give legal backing to this so that the programme can be part of the criteria for the establishment of private schools in the state, adding that at the federal level, the implementation of this training should be enforced in federal schools especially in the industrialised areas of the country.
If fully acquired by school management, he said, the training will not only protect lives but will also reduce cost, maximize man hour and enhance the improvement of productivity and well-being of both the school children and the teachers.
To achieve this, schools should in line with the World Health Organisation in occupational health and safety regulations employ or train staff that can take steps to identify hazards, assess the risk in their work place and personnel to deal with employer’s injury or illness resulting from their employment,” he stated.
