The Reform Coordination and Service Improvement (RCSI) of the Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA) on Tuesday in Abuja, trained workers on advocacy and workplace hazard.
Mr Akinnubi Ogunniran, Acting Director, Human Resources Management, FCTA, said during the training that the move was part of the strategies to enhance efficiency and effective service delivery.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the participants were drawn from Parks and Recreation Department and Abuja Environmental Protection Board (AEPB).
Ogunniran said that the training was crucial in ensuring efficiency in the civil service, particularly with the ongoing constructions and maintenance of building and drainages.
The director explained that apart from physical hazards, workers were also exposed to health hazards.
He said that some workers sweep the streets, clean offices, and need to know how to protect themselves against dust and dirt.
According to him, many of such workers may develop physical and health challenges, psychological trauma or injuries that could be life threatening or impact their lives for a very long time.
Earlier, the Acting Director, RCSI, Dr Jumai Ahmadu, said the training was in fulfillment of the 6th Pillar of the Federal Civil Service Strategy and implementation Plan, designed to enhance the productivity of civil servants.
Ahmadu said that the strategy placed high premium on the welfare of civil servants, adding that the effort was to ensure maximum protection of workers against any form of hazard in their places of work.
“The safety of our field workers wherever they find themselves while providing essential services is very paramount.
“This is part of deliberate efforts to protect and guide workers against risks associated with their work schedule.
“For instance, I have come across some field workers, especially in AEPB performing their duties but without any form of protective gear.
“This is exposing them to health hazards, not only to themselves but to the members of their families,” she said.
She urged workers to demand for necessary protective tools from their employers that could aid in safeguarding their health conditions for optimum job performances.
Ahmadu said that part of the goals of the training was to equip the workers with basic information needed to protect them from preventable hazards at their places of work.
The director said that the training would be a continuous exercise until all boards, secretariats, department, and agencies were covered.
“It is a new era of transformative civil service, so people should have all the necessary information available to enable them know what to do while discharging their duties,” she said. (NAN)
Source: News Agency of Nigeria