Engineers harp on construction sites safety

The Nigerian Institution of Civil Engineers (NICE), has advised Nigerians particularly, professionals in the built sector to adhere to safety rules during construction. The institution said such a step would go a long way in averting occurrence of accidents and building collapse, as construction work is a hazardous land-based job.

Chairman of the Lagos state chapter of the Institution, Lola Adetona, gave the charge during the second edition of the institution’s awareness walk tagged: “Walk for Stability” in Lagos.

The walk was in collaboration with the Lagos State Safety Commission, Lagos State Building Control Agency (LASBCA), Lagos State Fire Service and Lagos State Material Testing Laboratory.The building and construction industry is marked by a high rate of attrition and many serious work accidents. Nearly 6.5 million people work at approximately 252,000 construction sites across the world on any given day

Some safety hazards often seen in construction sites include, falls, being caught between objects, electrocutions, and being struck by objects. These hazards have caused injuries and deaths on construction sites throughout the world. But Adetona said such loss of lives due to carelessness; violation of construction rules and negligence of construction site safety tips could have been avoided if rules on construction sites are obeyed.

She said, “I believe that awareness is key; people should shun the practice of using quacks, road-side engineers and substandard materials for building constructions because these are the major cause of building collapse. The walk is used to advocate to the public the need to obey construction rules and regulations and engage the services professionals in building constructions. The essence is to courage healthy living and safe construction as we walked for over three hours creating awareness to residents of Lagos on the need to live safe and build right.”

On his part, the Director General of Lagos Safety Commission, Lanre Mojola, declared that the state government remains committed to achieve a zero percent tolerance of all forms of accidents in the environment.
He noted the reduction in the rate of building collapse but stressed that more efforts needed to be put in place until a zero per cent building collapsed is achieved.

“It is not until a building collapses, before provision will be made for remedies, preventive measures and solutions. It is not until building collapses, we need to sit up and continuously push for proactive measures to ensure zero percent building collapse. Some operators in the built environment rarely obey the rules, codes and conducts governing the profession. Professionals cutting corners with the use of substandard products is highly unacceptable”, he stated.The National Vice Chairman of NICE Tokunbo Ajayi, said that it was more economical to deploy the services of certified professionals than to use quacks on construction sites.