Health and Safety Training for Inmates in Correctional Facilities

The world will not change when good men & women sit in their comfort hoping that someone amongst them will get things done. We will only build a better world when a few good men rise up to ACT.

One of our most fulfilling moment in 2022 is the completion of this program, it is such joy and we feel so honoured. Freedom can only be appreciated when you visit correctional facilities, this is a blind spot that most of us do not even think of. We appeal to you, once in a while, pay a visit to the incarcerated.

This great program was pulled off by OSHversity Training and Development Company and CELSIR. I was going to work one morning when I heard Joke Aladesanmi, an Executive Director on Celsir on radio talking about the great work CELSIR was doing in correctional centres and I was so thrilled and felt health and safety awareness training will help inmates look after the centre safely and again, they might get inspired to take up a career in health and safety afterwards. This was how we both came up with this idea and today, we have completed the three weeks training. We already have one inmate coming out soon with high interest in health and safety, we have arrangement made for him to be admitted into an entry level qualification once he comes out.

The first week of this training was on Basics of Health and Safety Management, the second week was focused on Basic First Aid and CPR and the final week was centred on Hazard Identification, Control and Risk Assessment. This was an absolutely brilliant session to end the program as a transition from Basic First Aid and CPR as covered a week before.

We started with about 84 participants but 42 of them completed the program and were issued certificate of completion each on "Foundation to Health and Safety Management". My greatest joy was when I saw them all display their certificates in excitement, this is what life is all about. Thanks to team CELSIR and members of OSHversity Training and Development Company team for the sacrifices funding for this great work. Also to Yetunde Faloye Adeola, Engr. Khalid Agboola and Alfred Eguabor who volunteered in this project, we are so grateful.

The program ended with about 7 participants decorated as Health & Safety Response Marshals who were left with a mandate to lead and coordinate all health and safety activities within the centre in association with the centre officials who were also trained alongside.

We feel so good about this, there could not have been a better way to end 2022. If this was all we did this year, it is good enough.

To those who encouraged us with inspiring comments and those who called to commend the program, those words were so soothing and came at the right time. To the management and officials of Kirikiri Medium Correctional Centre, God bless you for all the good work you do daily.

There was a request made by the centre and we do not know how to go about this and we do not have the funds to execute this alone. They have solicited that we help build a block of two class rooms to compliment the existing two class rooms to enable the inmates have decent environment to learn. This is a very dear project we would have loved to do but....

Currently, we have a number of inmates writing external examinations from this centre towards furtherance of their education upon release and shockingly they are working so hard and passing their examinations. Helping to build more class rooms for them will really be a great way to close out on this program, we have decided we will look for funding from several sources to see what we can do about this.

We look forward to 2023 with much hope and trusting God that we are able to do much more as it concerns this project.

#iamgrateful

Ehi Iden

ehi@ohsm.com.ng