The National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) has urged all aircraft and ship owners to apply full safety measures in their operations.

The agency made the appeal at a one-day awareness and sensitisation workshop aimed at reiterating the importance of continuous safety consciousness on Sunday in Lagos.

The director, Search and Rescue, NEMA, Edwards Adedokun, who declared the workshop open, said critical stakeholders in maritime, aviation, response agencies and regulators in the various sectors were invited to attend the workshop.

Mr Adedokun, who was represented by Ibrahim Farinloye, the coordinator, Lagos Territorial Office of the agency, called on participants to take the opportunity of the workshop to acquire new safety tips.

He said they needed to be conscious of safety in their sectors, adding that any wrong step could spell doom for their operations.

The director cited the crash of Quorum Helicopters in Lagos and Kaduna states, where their alert equipment malfunctioned.

He added that if such had happened in a thick forest, tracking the location with the malfunctioning beacons would not have been easy.

Mr Adedokun explained that COSPAS and SARSAT were high-tech satellite-based equipment positioned in orbit to track distressed alerts emitted by the bearing of beacons installed in aircraft, ships or individuals.

According to him, the equipment is based in NEMA headquarters, covering the West and Central African countries, to track distress alerts from any source that needs protection, evacuation and assistance, as the case may be.

“This year alone, the Mission Control Centre, situated in Abuja, has recorded 130 resolved distressed alerts which turned out to be false.

“There are three types of alerts, Initial Alert, Resolved Alert and Update alert,” he explained.

Mr Adedokun said, “initial alert is when a 406 MHz beacon sends a distressed alert and is picked up by COSPAS SARSAT, the resolution commences with downloading details of the owners.

“It also involves contacting the owners to inquire about the situation of the equipment where the actual situation is not given.

“Then, the coordinates of the location of the aircraft, ship or individual will be established, which will be dispatched to all emergency response and regulatory agencies for action.

“While the resolved alert indicates that upon its reception, it was established that the owners were just making maintenance checks.“

Mr Adedokun added that the 130 recorded cases were not actual distress alerts but were classified as false.

He, however, appealed to the aircraft operators, both private and commercial, and ship owners to procure, install and ensure regular maintenance checks on their equipment as required. 

(NAN)