The Lagos State Government through its Safety Commission has convened a stakeholder forum to foster a culture of safety on high-rise buildings across the state.
The move is to entrench collaborations amongst safety stakeholders and sustain standards towards preventing avoidable fatalities in the built environment.
Speaking at the forum with a theme; ‘Safe Building, Protected Workforce’, the Director General, Lagos Safety Commission, Mr Lanre Mojola said that it has become expedient to give considerations to facility management and safety during building designs.
“This theme; Safe Building, Protected Workforce’, is very personal to me, having spent over a decade on the front lines of facility management in Nigeria, before having the privilege of leading the safety commission. I have seen firsthand how buildings live, how buildings age, how buildings operate, how buildings are managed and maintained. I have seen the whole life cycle costing of buildings that are brand new, and how within a very short period of time they start to fall apart, particularly in this country.” he said.
Operational Discipline:
Mojola stressed that building is a dynamic living ecosystem which must be tested on a daily basis, through operational discipline, routine maintenance, electrical and mechanical checks, among others.
According to him “Every failure, fire outbreak, or avoidable workplace incident witnessed across mega cities, is a stark reminder that safety cannot be treated as an afterthought or a quick tick box exercise. It is the core operational framework that protects lives, preserves asset value, and maintains public trust.
He emphasised on global best practices where every facility manager must acquire basic safety training and certification which therefore builds a direct connection between safety, security and facility management.
“So when we speak of a protected workforce, we are looking at how to ensure that the crews on the roof, the painters on the scaffold, the cleaners and the third-party contractors executing high-risk tasks are safe. We are also ensuring that we are protecting them and we are guarding them from injuries, from accidents, perhaps some that can lead to fatalities”, he stressed.
Key Collaboration
In his keynote address, the Technical Adviser of the Commission, Mr Seun Awojobi said the engagement provides a veritable opportunity to collaborate and develop practical implementable solutions that will strengthen construction safety facility management and occupational health across the state.
He said; “The theme of this year’s engagement speaks directly to our direct collective responsibility, we reflect our shared duty to ensure that every structure is built on the highest safety standard and that every worker who reports for duty each morning returns home unharmed and to their family at the close of work everyday. For the safety commission this is not a slogan, it’s a convenience that we have with the good people of Lagos and we take this with utmost seriousness.”
Awojobi stated that as Lagos continues to expand as Africa ‘s leading economic and commercial hub with rising skylines, industries high-rise building and growing workforce, it is important to leverage its economic opportunity while upholding the highest standards of safety quality and regulatory compliance.
He reiterated the Commission’s resolve to promoting a proactive safety culture
through inspection, collaboration,
stakeholders engagement, capacity building, public enlightenment, and consistent enforcement of safety regulation.
Facility Management:
One of the guest Speakers, Mr Lekan Akinwumi emphasised the power of collaboration between facility managers and safety professionals in the workplace.
He said the workplace was meant to be a place of comfort, where a chain of collaboration takes into cognizance facility management and occupational safety.
Safety Compliance:
The President of the Institute of Safety Professionals of Nigeria, Dr Stephen Udenzi; the President of the Association of Facility Management Practitioners of Nigeria, Dr Olumide Aina; and the Vice President of the International Facility Management Association, Mr Hakeem Olaonipekun, commended the Commission and other regulatory bodies for their sustained advocacy on safety compliance.
They also called for stronger and more sustainable collaboration among safety stakeholders.
Other guest speakers harped on managing safety in high-rise buildings and strategies on how to prepare the ground for any form of emergency and disaster prevention.
