The Lagos State Government on Wednesday warned professionals in the iron and steel sector against cutting corners in order to avert further collapse of buildings in the state.
Director-General (DG), Lagos State Safety Commission, Lanre Mojola, gave the warning at a one day capacity building workshop for over 60 workers from 13 companies in the Iron and Steel sector.
The capacity building is part of government’s efforts to ensure safety at work and also to check the collapse of buildings in Lagos.
At the event held in Ikeja, Mojola stated that such capacity building was in line with the Commission’s mandate beginning from the issuance of permit, right down the end of the project.
The DG was represented by the Director of Administration and Human Resource, Taiwo Fesomu at the event.
According to him, safety in all ramification is sacrosanct, which was why the government was committed to the training and retraining of workers in the iron and steel sector .
He said the one day programme on Standard Working Procedures in the Iron and Steel industry in Lagos State was organised to reduce the occurrence of accidents and incidents that led to injuries, disabilities and loss of lives.
“It is also to train and retrain ourselves on best safe practices in the workplace. This will promote the well-being of workers and ensure that they return home safely to their families and loved ones.
“Also, this training is aimed at exposing them to best practices so that they will not be tempted to cut corners during production of iron and steel which are essential materials in the construction industry,” he explained.
Adeyinka Adebiyi, one of the resource persons and a Safety expert, advised companies in the iron and steel sector to provide conducive working environment for their workers and also showed participants ways of ensuring their safety and how to uphold best practices.
Adebiyi said there were also lots of accidents in the iron and steel sector, which was why the training is very important, especially those of them working in high temperature environment.
“They need to be able to identify hazards, how to mitigate risks and also protect themselves. The use of the right protective equipment can go a long way in saving the life of a worker when accidents occur,” he added.
