Engineers seek right safety attitude in workplaces for improved productivity

Professional engineers under the aegis of American Society of Safety Engineers (ASSE), Nigerian chapter, have stressed the need for the right safety attitude in workplaces, believing that such attitude leads to increased productivity.

The engineers are uncomfortable with situations where the activities of safety professionals are misunderstood by employers and employees in the labour environment and,  according to Herbert Nwaka, the association’s president,  safety professionals  have become suspects and are regarded as ‘workplace policemen’ who perform hazard and compliance assessments to ensure safe workplaces at the detriment of production.

“We want those of you who see us in this light to have a change of heart as we all know that safety in workplace is all that is needed to get things right”, said Nwaka who spoke at the association’s 4th annual conference in Lagos recently. “With the right safety attitude, our work and in-deed workers will be better for it”, he assured.

At both public and private sector levels, safety of men and material at work places are taken seriously. Also, occupational health and safety are becoming a worldwide  concern not only for workers and their families but also for governments, businesses and stakeholders.

It has been proven that the most successful economies have demonstrated that workplaces designed according to principles of occupational health, safety and ergonomics are the most sustainable and productive.

Carol Antaih, general manager, Upstream Nigeria Safety, Health and Environment at ExxonMobil, noted in her keynote address at the conference titled ‘Building a Safety Culture: Our Collective Responsibility’ that protecting the safety and health of the workforce is fundamental to businesses  because safety is a core value and an integral part of  business culture.

“At ExxonMobil, our commitment to sound sustainable environments, safety and security of our people form the foundation of our long term business success. We believe that no business objective should be pursued at the expense of safety. We are relentless in our pursuit of safety and so every employee and contractor returns home from work every day safe and healthy. This is a commitment we make to ourselves and it underpins everything that we do in our operations every single day,” she said.

As a government, the Lagos State government is responding to heightening safety concerns which, it believes, need new measures to be put in place to ensure that safety becomes the goal of government through education and enlightenment.

The governor, Akinwunmi Ambode, who gave this hint at the conference, also disclosed that the state  with its large population has peculiar safety challenges but  has tried to address them by putting in place relevant agencies to ensure that acceptable standards are strictly adhered to.

The Group Managing Director of Brickwall Group of Companies, Uche Ahubelem, spoke against building collapse and other incidents around the construction industry, saying the issue of safety management has become even more critical in Nigeria.