Manhole: Safety and health issues

My sister Mary Anavhe has only just recovered from a nasty accident occasioned by an unprotected manhole on the streets. Manholes by definition are the rather deep roundish contraptions on the shoulder of the roads used for maintenance of roads. The dictionary definition has it as: A covered hole in a street that a person can go down into to do work under the street. A hole through which one may go especially to gain access to an underground or enclosed structure.

These manholes are covered up in most parts of the world and are well structured to prevent accidents.

Mary accidentally stepped into this terrible hole and broke a leg.

Why are there so many unprotected manholes across Nigeria? Why have they left these manholes unmanned, open, dangerously gaping, waiting for anyone to fall into it. It is so easy to lose a limb. So easy to lose a life.

Only three days ago, I almost stepped into a manhole. I stepped out of my car and narrowly missed a huge gaping manhole that had not been covered. Any slight movement to the left or even if I had tripped, I would have fallen into the manhole and mark you with only one leg. That is even difficult to imagine. It’s like a split dance and you don’t even want to know the medical challenges of losing one leg to a manhole. Just the thought boggles the mind. But as I made my way to my destination, I found not less than six manholes waiting to break someone’s leg, ankle, or generally put a limb to the test. Who is really responsible for covering these manholes which threaten our health and safety?

In England where I have lived on and off, health and safety is taken seriously. You cannot go near an accident victim except you have some training or you are a health personnel because random help can kill the victim. More often than not these medical personnel arrive quickly to save lives. Here in Nigeria, some victims die because of late arrival of professional help and then the accident area is not cordoned off and a crowd gathers taking pictures, crowding the area and making it difficult for medical personnel to do their work.

When there is a gathering, conferences etc. in most parts of the world, the health and safety officer comes in to brief everyone about exits, where the conveniences are etcetera and also the organisers request ahead for a list of those who have peculiar illnesses and those who have any diet restrictions. This happens very rarely in Nigeria and occurs mostly only in private sector organisations, International organisations and public private organisations.

This activity needs to be taken on board across the country so that our people are safe and we protect them with everything we have. What about physically challenged persons? Do we have buildings that take them into consideration? Very few. A wheelchair bound person has great difficulty getting into the banks because they are not considered. The buildings are not primed to manage a wheelchair bound person but their money is in the bank and profits are been made from them.

I recall Michael Jackson’s unbelievable act when he dangled his child from a hotel window on the third floor dangerously. That was an act brought upon the child by his father who may be at that time was having a nervous breakdown. I did not see it as a prank. If the child had dropped, it would have been a different story.

But I have seen buildings where the balconies are so low that a two year old can jump to his/her death. I wonder if there were no regulations for these buildings. Were there no Architects? Builders? Were there no health and safety checks? What about industrial accidents? A machine cutting off someone’s arm in an industrial area. Then no one cares and the victims are no longer able to work. Their lives changed forever. Their families mangled by the accident. Their breadwinner incapacitated.

Our health and safety issues in Nigeria need to be looked at more critically. We are so careless. Our interest in the safety of our people needs to be improved upon. Even our relationship with each other needs to be redefined. We are no longer our brother’s keeper even on our highways: watch Nigerians driving on the highways you would think they are enemies of one another. Simple courtesies are out of the window and we seem not to care.

We need to get our health and safety right. Manholes must be covered. We must take care of one another, our physically challenged, our children. Look at many swimming pools, some of them are not really manned and in some cases children and adults are known to have drowned because even a simple sign to show deep waters or shallow areas or even warning signs are missing.

Things can be better for Nigeria’s safety and health. In the current government whose mantra is change, everyone must change their ways to improve safety and health.

Eugenia Abu