Industry stakeholders harp on health, safety, others at workplace

Insurance industry stakeholders have advised organisations in the country to take workplace health insurance as a priority and also provide enabling environment against unforeseen hazard.

The experts, who gathered at the PSRG – Richardson Health, Safety, Security and Environment (HSSE) Forum, said it is a platform for the meeting of major industry players and HSSE practitioners in various sectors to discuss and analyse issues in Health, Safety, Security and Environment (HSSE) practices in Nigeria and relate these with international best practices.

Speaking with The Guardian on the sidelines of the event in Lagos, the Chief Executive Officer of AXA Mansard, Kunle Ahmed, said they are global brand in an industry that requires adherence to the highest level of risk management practices.

According to him, we considered this forum as an excellent channel for industry professionals and experts to come together to learn, discuss current trends and brainstorm about industry challenges and offer practical solutions to HSSE issues.

In a paper titled “Project Risk Management: The Role of Insurance”, by AXA Mansard Insurance’s Group Head in charge of Energy and Emerging Corporates, Akinlolu Akinyele, he said the event was indeed educative and informative.

“Not only were beneficial insights into HSSE practices offered, interesting Nigerian content were also shared that they remain dedicated to achieving excellence and international standards in HSSE practices,” he said.

Akinleye stressed that the adoption of health insurance in Nigeria has been growing slowly in the private sector, though not as expected.

“It still needs to improve because it is important for every economy for the citizens to be healthy as good health is key to productivity,” he said.

He noted that when we compared with other countries of similar economies, Nigeria was still falling behind, and that Ghana had made above 15 per cent adoption and South Africa about 20 per cent.