Managing Director of Nigeria Social Insurance Trust Fund, (NSITF), Barrister Olawaseun Faleye, on Tuesday, advocated the adoption of Artificial Intelligence or AI and Digitalization in ensuring workers safety in Nigeria.
Speaking at the
Occupational Safety and Health Forum in commemoration of the World Day of Safety and Health organised by the Fund at the Merit House, Abuja, Barrister Faleye, advised that in embracing technology, care should be taken not to forget the core things that drive safety and health in the workplace.
Barrister Faleye stated that AI would introduce innovations in workplace safety with prediction, prevention and protection revolutionised, which will in turn, promote safety and health in the workplace.
The MD emphasized the need for continuous learning and adaptation,
Investing in training and education to ensure workers are proficient in utilising tools.
Barrister Faleye further advocated the need for ensuring appropriate compliance ethics and proper safeguards are put in place.
He concluded calling for reaffirmation “of our commitment to workers safety.”
Faleye thanked NECA for its continued support and
Commended the organising team for putting in their best. He said the
topic was timely and pivotal in reshaping safety in workplaces.
Earlier, while welcoming participants to the event, the Executive Director Operations of NSITF, Mrs Mojisolaoluwa Alli-Macaulay, said it was a gathering of experts, practitioners and stakeholders to brainstorm on the best practices and challenges in adoption of AI and Digitalization for safety and workers well-being.
She further summed up the aim as equipping OSH professionals with the required knowledge and skills to tap into AI and Digitalization, as well as tackle its challenges for a safer and healthier workplace in Nigeria.
In his goodwill message, DG NECA, Mr Smart Oyerinde lamented that workplace environment in Nigeria is not in the best of state.
According to him he saw the event as an opportunity to restate commitment to workers’ safety and deepen partnership among stakeholders.
In his opinion, AI has come stay and is shaping things and how we respond to safety in the workplace. The DG reinstated NECA’s commitment to safer and healthier work environment for the Nigeria workers, revealing ongoing free training in this regard.
Also in a goodwill message, Honourable David ldris Zakarias, Chairman, House of Representatives Committee on Safety Standard, lauded the NSITF MD for his courage and doggedness in improving the the Fund.
He posited that AI had potentials to transform the way we prevent, monitor and respond to hazards.
The Committee Chairman advocated a worker centred approach saying, “Behind every tool and innovation are humans. An innovation can only be measured in form of the lives it actually protects.”
He concluded his remarks affirming that the House remained steadfast in “our collective pursuit of safety in the workplace”.
The forum which has the theme, Revolutionising Health and Safety: The Role of AI and Digitalization at Work, was put together by the HSE Department of the Fund, to explore the issues around introduction of AI and Digitalization and their roles in ensuring workers safety and health.
The event had in attendance members of the National Assembly including, the representatives of the Senate Committee Chairman, and Clerk of the House Committee.
