By Sunday Okobi
The Lagos State Government on Monday directed
people living around Olusosun, a sprawling community in Ojota, to relocate
immediately, citing grave environmental and health hazards that might result
from smoke emitting from the dumpsite.
Consequently, the state government unveiled vision
zero campaign, which it said was designed to promote safety in workplaces and
construction sites across the state and
ensure zero workplace accidents in the next three years.
The Director-General of Lagos State Safety
Commission, Hon. Hakeem Dickson, gave the advice at a news conference he
addressed at the Bagauda Kaltho Press Centre yesterday alongside the management
team of the commission.
Fire (smoke) had last Wednesday bellowed from the
Olusosun dump site, necessitating the decision of the state Governor, Mr.
Akinwunmi Ambode, to visit the place at two different times last week.
However, there was no death casualty recorded due
to the fire incident at the dumpsite.
At the conference, Dickson urged the residents
around the dumpsite to relocate immediately, noting that it had become
imperative “to leave due to the environmental consequence of the smoke that
keeps emitting from the site.”
He explained that the environmental hazard was the
major reason the state government launched the new campaign, which according to
him, was to ensure that corporate organisations and individuals “are safety
conscious in the state.
“In this vein, Ambode will next month, during a
three-day conference, sign a policy document on safety at the workplace. Lagos
Vision Zero is a transformational approach for prevention of accident that
interprets the tripod of safety, health and wellbeing at all levels at work in
the state,” he said.
The director-general explained that the vision was
borne out of the need “to reduce to the barest minimum, hazards and risks in
workplaces in the state and ensure zero injury, zero accident, zero death as
well as promote the wellbeing and health of the people.
“It is expected that at the end of the programme, a
workplace safety template will be developed for the state, and by extension,
guarantee the well-being of all workers in the state.
“You would also have observed series of incidences
that have been happening recently which included liquefied petroleum gas
explosions, fire incidents, building collapse workplace incidents among others.
“These incidents are of grave concern to the state
government. This is why we have continued to sensitise the public and engaged
stakeholders in order to bring safety to their consciousness and make it a
lifestyle. Lagos Vision Zero is a transformational approach to prevention that portrays
the tripod policy of safety, health and wellbeing at all levels at work.
“Vision zero is not about showmanship, marksmanship
and definitely not about censorship but about leadership, ownership and
partnership with all the stakeholders in Lagos State.”
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