NSITF Harps on Increased Attention to Workers’ Safety, Health

By Peter Uzoho and Rebecca Ejifoma

The Nigeria Social Insurance Trust Fund (NSITF) has stressed the need for employers in the private and public sector to pay more attention to the safety, health and welfare of their employees in the performance of their official assignments.

The Assistant General Manager/Branch Manager of the NSITF, Apapa, Mr. Daniel Omotayo, stated this yesterday in Lagos during the branch’s rally in commemoration of the 2021 World Safety and Health at Work Day, with the theme: “Anticipate, Prepare and Respond to the Crisis –Invest Now in Resilience Occupational Safety and Health System.”

Omotayo also stressed the need for all corporate organisations in Nigeria to queue into the Employees Compensation Scheme (ECS) of the government in order to help them reduce the high financial burden they incur during compensation for their workers who sustain injuries or die in active service.

He said: “Employers all over the world have the responsibility to ensure that their working environment is safe and that they put in place all the safety and health measures and guidelines to reduce accidents and deaths at work place.

“It is also important for employers in Nigeria to come on board this scheme so that their workers, their employees can benefit from the scheme, and that will also reduce the burden on their organisations.”

He said the safety and health of Nigerian workers were important for the NSITF and that the agency is interested in what happens to employers all over the country, explaining that the NSITF was set up as a government parastatal to manage the ECS.”

He said the scheme covered three broad areas including “injuries sustained in the course of work or at work places. It also covers occupational diseases which are diseases contracted in the course of employment and also deaths of employees. In which case, the dependents of the employee are paid some compensation.

He said: “But with regards to injury sustained in the course of work, we cover the losses incurred by the employer on the employees in relation to injury sustained in the course of work.”

Omotayo noted that the agency encouraged every employer of labour in the private and public sector to be registered under the ECS with NSITF to ensure adequate compensation of employees of organisations during accidents and injuries sustained in the course of work.

He advised corporate organisations and all stakeholders to take preventive actions that could prevent accidents, injuries or death before they would occur.

He enjoined organisations to make good plans for occupational hazards as they were bound to happen irrespective of their level of carefulness and even with all the safety and health facilities in place.