Pharmacy and Medicines Regulatory Authority (PMRA) members of staff have undergone a two-day in-house fire safety and first aid training at the Authority’s offices in Lilongwe.

The training facilitated by Kabula Industrial Safety Specialists brought together all members of staff with first group taking their day-long session on Friday, January 132023, while the second group took their turn on Tuesday, January 172023.

Speaking when she officially opened the training for the first group on Friday, on behalf of Director General, Mphatso Kawaye, PMRA Chief Human Resources and Administration Officer Irene Dzanjalimodzi said the training was aimed at equipping the staff with fire safety and risk management skills to enable them to prevent office fire accidents and safely manage the same in the unlikely event of occurrence.

Dzanjalimodzi said while the Authority ensures that all necessary precautions aimed at preventing risks of fire are in place in all its offices, it is still vital to prepare members of staff on what to do in times of fire emergences to protect life and property.

“Our goal is to make sure that there are no any fire emergencies here; but in the unlikely event that there’s fire at the office, we need to know how we are going to, first of all, protect our life and that of the next person; and secondly, property,” she said.

Dzanjalimodzi called on the members of staff to apply the fire safety and first aid skills and knowledge acquired from the training, not only at the office, but also in their homes.

Topics covered during the training included emergency evacuation, practical use of various types of fire extinguishers and principles of first aid. The staff were also taken through practical fire drills.