Yemisi Izuora
The Nigerian Airspace Management Agency (NAMA) is embarking on the training of various categories of its workforce in safety management training. The training which will dwell on areas such as Safety Audit of Air Traffic Services; Safety Oversight Management and Practical Preparation for International Civil Aviation Universal Safety Oversight Programme (ICAO USOAP) and Air Traffic Management Safety Investigation and Analysis among others is targeted at equipping critical staff of the agency with the capacity and proficiency to investigate and analyse air traffic incidents with a view to mitigating or eliminating future occurrence.
Making this revelation while signing the NAMA Safety Policy and Commitment to Safety Management, the Managing Director, Capt. Fola Akinkuotu noted that safety management has become key in a highly sophisticated and dynamic industry such as aviation, stressing that “aviation has no room for I am sorry.” He disclosed that management was putting a machinery in motion to drastically reduce or eliminate incidents while maintaining zero tolerance for accidents. Akinkuotu also charged top management staff of the agency to buy into the NAMA Safety Policy and also ensure that the message cascades down to the entire staff, adding that “everything we do in the agency, one way or the other impacts on safety. We must therefore focus not only on the obvious, but even the non-obvious things, and by this, every NAMA staff should key into the safety policy and also be passionate about it.”, The signing of NAMA Safety Policy by Capt. Akinkuotu is in compliance with the prescription of ICAO Document 9859 (Safety Management Manual) Annex 19 (Safety Management Systems) which requires that the Chief Executive Officer of an aviation service provider must sign a commitment to safety as the Accounting Executive for Safety Management Systems (SMS).