The Federal Government has charged stakeholders with making meaningful contributions to developing the comprehensive National Workplace Intervention Action Guide to serve as a framework for mitigating emerging occupational safety and health issues in Nigeria.
[ad]
The Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Labour and Employment, Salihu Usman gave the charge in a keynote speech at a stakeholders’ retreat on Workplace Intervention to Emerging Occupational Safety and Health (OSH) Issues in Nigeria, organised by the Ministry, in Abuja.

Usman, who was represented by the Director of Human Resources Management, Mrs. Catherine Lami Bulus, identified emerging OSH issues as incidents arising from transformational changes experienced in the world of work due to technological advancements, Artificial Intelligence (AI), demographic shifts, economic instability, rising insecurity, climate change and globalisation.

According to him, swift intervention is required to safeguard and promote the safety, health and well-being of workers in their various workplaces, as well as to create better working conditions in line with emerging workplace trends.

He noted that those emerging issues could often transform into disasters that require coordinated workplace intervention by multiple stakeholders.

Usman stressed the need for the identification, evaluation and control of emerging conditions in the work environment that could adversely affect the health, safety and well-being of workers, noting that emerging issues could often transform into disasters that require workplace intervention by multiple stakeholders.

He stated that the cardinal objectives of the retreat include identifying, analysing, and evaluating workplace interventions to identify emerging occupational safety and health issues in the workplace as well as formulating a Workplace Intervention Guide to identify emerging occupational safety and health issues.

The Permanent Secretary added: “The retreat aims to formulate a Guide for potential work-related large-scale emerging trends requiring a coordinated response, whilst highlighting the roles and responsibilities of stakeholders in the National Occupational Safety and Health Management System, and also encouraging inter-ministerial and inter-agency involvement in Occupational Safety and Health.”

He emphasised the commitment of the Ministry to revitalizing the country’s OSH management system by convoking regular stakeholders’ consultative meetings and effective supervision of emergency preparedness and response plans concerning large-scale emerging occupational safety and health incidents.
[ad]
Welcoming the participants earlier, the Director, OSH Department, Ministry of Labour and Employment, Lauretta Adogu, said the retreat was aimed at identifying mitigation strategies and analysing the proposed Workplace Intervention Guide about identifiable emerging occupational safety and health issues.

She explained that the retreat provided a platform for open dialogue and knowledge exchange on the National Workplace Intervention Guide, which, if implemented, would curb the health and safety challenges faced by workers in their ever-evolving work environments.

“We will discuss and recommend areas where the different stakeholders can expand their roles and responsibilities in preventing emerging occupational safety and health issues. This Guide will serve as a practical tool for tackling Emerging Occupational Safety and Health Issues in Nigeria,” Adogu said.
[ad]