FAAN management urged to prioritise health of security personnel

THE short lifespan of many aviation security personnel has been traced to the shortage of required number of manpower and the subsequent on-duty stress experienced by the affected workers.

Revealing this at the Aviation Safety Week 2023 with the theme: ‘Promoting Staff Working Behind the Scene for Aviation Safety,’ an aviation security expert, Dr Hope Bassey cited how many aviation security personnel (AVSEC) had suffered premature deaths in the cause of carrying out their jobs.

According to her, the AVSEC personnel are understaffed, work beyond the required hours, exposed to a lot of dangers, while their remunerations are not encouraging.

Bassey, who recalled how an AVSEC personnel of FAAN who worked for over 24 hours non-stop, slept off behing the wheel while driving back home and died in the process, regretted that apart from this, many of the personnel were nursing various ailments, which are further aggravated by the uncomfortable working environment.

Her words: “Shortage of manpower does a lot of hazard to AVSEC. As a result of this hazard, the personnel have to work extra hours. This, unfortunately, leads to stress among the workers and untimely death.

“Also, most of the personnel are nursing one sickness or the other and they can’t take a day off duty. A lot of AVSEC personnel are suffering, yet the FAAN management is not aware of this.”

To address the challenges, Bassey suggested the recruitment of additional competent personnel into the department, stressing that this would reduce the workload on the staff.

She, however, tasked the fAAN management to take as priority, health of security personnel across the airports, to reduce the health hazards related with the job.

Earlier, the Managing Director of FAAN, Mr Kabir Muhammed, while emphasising the importance of safety to the sector, had explained that it is important to carry out investigation of any accident to prevent recurrence, maintaining that the purpose of this was not to punish the offenders.

Shortage of manpower and on-duty stress are some of the reasons for early death of Aviation Security (AVSEC) personnel at the nation’s airports.

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