By Sadique Bamwita
ENTEBBE
The Director General Uganda Civil Aviation Authority (UCAA), Fred Bamwesigye, has launched the safety Aviation week to enhance the culture of safety among stakeholders and the community.
The Aviation safety week started on Monday 11 and will end on Friday 15 November 20224, and involves a series of activities including safety talks, presentations, safety messages, all aimed at promoting a culture of safety.
Mr. Bamwesigye believes that by the end of the Aviation safety week, aviation experts and stakeholders would have renewed their collective commitment to upholding the highest standards of safety in the aviation sector.
“We have put in place efforts in observing safety in aviation because almost everything in aviation resonates with the safety of passengers and aviation users and that is the very reason we come out with aviation standards and recommended practices of aviation which everyone must try to comply with since it’s our area of concern.
‘Aviation users need to be reminded of the overall objective of safety in aviation all the time because after sometime people keep doing their own things. So when you talk of safety there is a need to remind people of the line they take and the standards and recommended practices all the time. It’s on this basis that we are here to reinforce the culture of safety among airport users such that people come back to their main commitment to safety, otherwise people need to be reawakened all the time, even in Christianity people have to be reminded every Sunday about Jesus Christ and also in Islam people have to be reminded the teachings of prophet Muhamed not because they don’t know but there is need to realign them again and again.
‘Because Aviation has so many stakeholders and participants like airport users, this week is intended to bring back everyone on board to re-emphasize the individual commitments to safety culture and to continue creating culture which is a shared way of how values are developed and shared. All the time we must go back and talk about them in order to create a culture. There is already a safety culture at the airport but we are strengthening it to remind the stakeholders that this is what we must do all the time. When we keep talking about culture safety, we develop codes about it then inculcate them in people’s way of life as far as aviation is concerned, “Mr. Bamwesigye explained.
Regarding the environment issue Mr. Bamwesigye continued that: “It’s part and parcel of the safety aviation week because in aviation it has become part of our emphasis that we promote the environment. Earlier on, we had restricted ourselves on carbon emissions from the aircrafts but now the emphasis is on the total complete environment of aviation facilities and what impact aviation causes on the environment. The emissions from the atmosphere are more dangerous than other aspects of the environment. The International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) as our regulator has put it as part of the strategic emphasis for us to include the environment.
‘In fact going forward, it’s going to be part of the standards that are being developed and actually audited in the near future. So when we talk of safety-it’s a comprehensive safety. It involves safety in the atmosphere and safety in the environment, not only the objects but also the air you breathe in, the environment you are seated in and the likely impact of human activities in the aviation sector. For instance, if you construct airport facilities and you don’t put into account the environmental impact we can’t allow you to do anything. You have to put in place an environmental plan before you start the facility and even show how you are going to manage the environment that is coming as part of the overall safety. We don’t only to restrict ourselves on carbon emissions but even the environment in which we operate,’ Mr. Bamwesigye expressed his concern on the environment.
Mr. Bamwesigye further highlighted the issue of technological advancement and said that: “In the world, technologies are taking place for example the cleaner fuel production and we have a date when they should start. The date is 23 November which is a few days from now. Technologies have been developed and we are trying to access funds such that the world adopts these cleaner environmental technologies but for us we have started with fuel production and that is what we are focusing on but we still have a lot of discussions at the global level. Some of these take a little bit long because of the investments required and not all countries are endowed with resources at the same level. .
‘For us in developing countries we have been opposing that day because it’s too quick for our financial resources to have been realized but there are discussions that are going on. However there are affordable systems that we can implement and are already taking place, “Mr. Bamwesigye disclosed.
The Director Airport Aviation Security at Uganda Civil Aviation Authority, Col. Emmanuel Barungi, called upon all stakeholders to participate in the aviation safety week adding that during celebrations they will launch the Hazard identification form which will be a big step in improving the efficiency of the safety reporting system.
“As we talk, we have been able to engage the leadership of neighboring communities to build cohesion and possibly closely work together and this is hoped to enhance collaborative developments as well as development linkages which have a lot of input at the airport facility. Therefore, involving the neighboring communities is not a mistake but is aimed at promoting safety cohesion and development that is collaborative with activities of the airport.
‘We emphasize safety reporting and data sharing. We also intend to develop measures to deal with wildlife related hazards and this has linkages with the neighboring community visa-vise the airport. We encourage free reporting on safety issues and if you see any safety issue report it immediately. This should be part of you in today’s activities, “Mr. Barungi reminded stakeholders.
The Director Safety, security and Economic regulation at the Uganda Civil Aviation Authority (UCAA), Eng. Ronny Barongo, said the aviation safety week comes timely when there is a need to have a safe airport and to work together with stakeholders in the aviation sector.
‘’ Aviation safety week has come at the right time when the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) is preparing to celebrate 80 years of the Chicago convention which established the civil aviation or the use of military aircrafts in December 1954. Since then we have the aviation sector regulated following international standards as stipulated in the convention which provides standards and recommended practices which are well detailed.
“The International Civil Aviation Organization is looking at having long term aspiration goals of having net zero carbon emissions by 2050. This week comes timely because we are seeing convergence of safety and air navigation services all aimed at streamlining our environment sustainability within Uganda and also at the global scale. I therefore, emphasize greener airports which look at the quality of air at the airport and also reduce the amount of carbon emission within the airport.
“Besides this, we are celebrating 75 years of facilitation and we shall look at the aspect of facilitating our passengers to move smoothly at Entebbe International Airport. So, as we celebrate the aviation safety week, we should look at the long term visibility of the airports because airports are migrating to accommodate the emerging technologies of our mobility which include unmanned aircraft systems. For that matter, we need to think of designing airports to have vertical takeoff and vertical landing and look at airports on higher altitude and those enclosed by water bodies among other physical features. This is the right time to reflect on the effectiveness of management systems in addition to looking at how different safety systems are collaborating with the airports especially in areas of collaborative decision making systems, voluntary and mandatory reporting systems and also in the area of runway safety teams. I strongly believe if all these are put in place we shall be able to consolidate the activities of E-system and in the long run we shall look at how we are managing safety alone in mitigating hazards using management systems and also utilize safety information to build on safety intelligence.
‘I call upon stakeholders to start looking at system thinking and safety intelligence to improve our level of safety within Entebbe international Airport and Ugandan airspace. Currently Entebbe International Airport is fully certified and we have assured the regulator that we shall maintain the systems in place on top of addressing the corrective Action plans and also give assurance to users of Entebbe International Airport, “Eng. Barongo told participants.
On the other hand, the Entebbe Municipality mayor, Fabrice Brad Rulinda said council is working with Entebbe International Airport as one of the key stakeholders and that council is committed to supporting initiatives that promote safety at the airport.
“As the Landlord of the airport we are glad to be part of the aviation safety week and we look forward to seeing that the airport eco-system co-exists with our communities. We are ready to work closely with the Uganda Civil Aviation Authority for the betterment of the aviation sector.
“We understand the challenges in our communities and for the airport to exist we are aware of the challenges it goes through, sometimes the security aspect, the noise and all other things that inconvenience the community living near the airport. As council we are committed to ensuring peaceful co-existence between the community and Civil Aviation Authority.
‘I’m hopeful the safety week will help the community to understand what the authority does and to enable Ugandans to appreciate that the airport is ours and that it should be something that we own. When you see a gap in security or developments –we should be more patriotic to address it than using it as a platform to ridicule. Let’s use this safety aviation week as a platform to learn our airport and aviation eco system, “Mayor Rulinda sounded his appeal.
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