By Uzor Odigbo
Experts in the aviation industry are charting a new course towards curtailing aircraft accidents in the country.
They explained that for such to be achievable, the workforce and all stakeholders must thoroughly be educated and briefed on their respective roles in a bid to minimise damage.
They also noted that there’s need on compliance to aviation regulations and laws of the state of the country while responding to aviation accidents, incidents and disaster recovery.
The Commissioner, Accident Investigation Bureau (AIB), Akin Olateru, during the Nigerian Aviation Workshop Symposium (NAWS) 2020, tagged,
“A Safety Management System Approach to Responses to Aviation Accidents and Incidents within Nigerian Airspace”, said that there was the need for stakeholders in the sector to adopt, strengthen and implement Safety Management System (SMS), in line with Annex 19 to the Convention on International Civil Aviation and Safety Management Manual.
He pointed out that the objective of safety management in the aviation industry was to prevent human injury, loss of life and also to avoid damage to the environment and to property.
“Our mission is to ensure the continuous safety of the Nigerian aviation industry and airspace, through our aircraft accident reports”, Olateru said.
Meanwhile, the Director, Operations (AIB), Captain Dayyabu Danraka stated that through accident reports, AIB had strengthened its relationships with all stakeholders and together, they had been able to enhance the safety of the sector.
He maintained that to achieve safety, the importance of communication and partnership cannot be overemphasised.
Danraka stressed further that for the past two years, the AIB had run a pilot programme in the review and monitoring of all safety recommendations since its inception in 2007 and had received numerous positive responses from the operators, regulators and other service providers, leading to many changes towards mitigating risks in the airspace system due to these responses.
“The AIB and other aviation agencies are working together in a very collaborative way on several safety programmes that reinforce the importance of all point safety,” Danraka said.
Moreover, the Director of Operations, Nigerian Airspace Management Agency (NAMA), Mr. Mathew Pwajok, explained the need for an emergency response plan to be in place and to be strictly followed in the event of emergencies by stakeholders in a bid to save lives, minimise both physical, financial harm and reputations as well.
He listed that others are, establishing a clear framework by which to respond to incidents or emergencies, building clear guidelines to communicate necessary information to visitors, employees, students, communities, minimise disruptions to ongoing operations and a host of others.
