By Niyonshima Joshua, Media Management
A team of 50 URA safety ambassadors has concluded training in first aid and firefighting where they were trained on handling accident-related injuries, patient resuscitation and operating firefighting equipment.
The firefighting skills training was conducted by Uganda Police Force and first aid by Ambulance Africa.
Wadanya Patrick Dan an Officer in facilities management said the training is aimed at ensuring a safe working environment for URA staff and their clients in case of an accident or fire outbreak.
He also urged staff to be each other’s keeper and always be on the lookout for threats and accident causers like poor office arrangements , misalignment without corridors, open electrical ports, cracks in the building and so many more.
“Be conscious of your environment, look out for any hazard that would be a threat to your health, and help security identify people who frequent offices without purpose, these could be watching out on how to cause chaos in any shape or form,” Wadanya warned.
Mary Kisembo the resident URA nurse said the medical team is always ready however training is aimed at providing first aid as victims await the medical team.
Safety ambassadors are a select team of URA staff tasked with ensuring general safety of fellow staff. They undergo several types of training to enable them understand different dangers that may arise in work environments and how to solve them.
Currently, URA has 80 ambassadors and 50 of them have successfully completed this training.
Some of their key roles include promoting Occupational Health and Safety (OHS) policy, looking out for hazardous situations/items and bring them to the attention of the OHS Coordinator, manage first aid kits and supplies, carry out risk assessments, take lead in combating all work risk hazards and train fellow staff on safety processes.
The safety campaign started last December with educational webinars on URA TV and shall be concluded with fire safety drills later this year.
