Professionalism indispensable to nurturing robust safety culture, says naval chief

Chief of the Naval Staff Admiral Muhammad Zakaullah has expressed his satisfaction over adherence to safety culture in the Pakistan Navy.

He was speaking as chief guest to the navy’s annual safety review for the year 2016 held at the Bahria Auditorium on Thursday.

The safety review is held every year with the objective of creating safety awareness and inculcating safety culture among naval personnel. It also provides a road map to improve the safe working environment in the Pakistan Navy.

Addressing the audience, Admiral Zakaullah said the safety review was actually a process of self-accountability, which helped to evaluate and gauge the safety standards in light of occurrences of yesteryear.  He noted that during war or peace time, safety and professionalism complemented each other in the successful execution of naval operations. However, he said, besides constraints of resources, the provision of war equipment entailed that “we must be mindful of safety protocols to keep precious lives and costly equipment safer during all evolutions”.

Admiral Zakaullah further described professionalism as indispensable to nurturing a robust safety culture, which could only be attained through effective training and devotion. 

He emphasised that adherence to safety rules did not construe that one should become timid and reluctant during the execution of professional duties; rather, “each one of us is expected to be pre-emptive and dauntless, besides following the SOPs during the execution of the mission”. The naval chief congratulated all the winners and gave away safety trophies and awards.