‘We’ll Enforce Safety Rules’

Worried by the increasing rate of occupational accidents, Governor Babatunde Fashola of Lagos State, Southwest Nigeria, has vowed to enforce safety rules in organisations in the state.

Fashola who said this at the World Day for Safety and Health Work in Lagos, lamented the rate of occupational accidents worldwide, especially in sub-Saharan Africa.

The governor quoted from the International Labour Organisation, ILO, statistics which indicated that globally, 2.3 million suffer occupational accidents annually.

Fashola, who was represented by the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Special Duties, Dr. Aderemi Desalu, at the event organised by the Lagos State Office of Public Safety, expressed the resolve to ensure public safety in the state.

Fashola frowned at over 160 million new cases of occupational disease, which reports said, resulted in the death of more than 5,500 workers per day.

He said the consequence “has been enormous on the global economy with a four percent decline in the global gross domestic product (GDP) apparently lost to the work-related accidents, diseases and other occupational hazards annually”.

Fashola stated that the safety commission with its enabling law “will soon drive work-related incidents down by creating safer workplace and improved standard of living for the state workforce.”

According to him, “we are continually implementing programmes that promote safety culture and healthy lifestyle of our workforce and the entire citizenry through the Office of Public Safety and other related agencies.”

Speaking at the event, the Managing Director of the Lagos State Waste Management Authority, LAWMA, Mr. Ola Oresanya, stressed the need for the state government to be strict in enforcing safety rules in workplaces.