Tackling hazards in elevated positions

As people continue to fall in elevated positions and several lives have been lost at heights, experts have expressed concerns on the need to reduce the rate of fall hazards by workers on sites. On a daily basis, about 100 people die from elevated positions due to the state of the economy, substandard safety products, […]

As people continue to fall in elevated positions and several lives have been lost at heights, experts have expressed concerns on the need to reduce the rate of fall hazards by workers on sites.
On a daily basis, about 100 people die from elevated positions due to the state of the economy, substandard safety products, lack of training equipment, poor perception by some companies to safety at elevated positions, lack of information and training.
Statistics have shown that in Lagos being the commercial hub of the country, 20 percent out of 58 percent elevated position hazards involve people falling from ladders.
Negligence and non compliance to safety guidelines by many of the construction companies and operators of telecoms base stations and other equipment in the heights are major cause of the hazards.
The Business Development Manager, West Africa Height Safety Ltd, Mr. Andre Van Dyk said the concept of safety in Africa especially Nigeria is under developed coupled with the high level of unemployment, which allows easy replacement of injured site workers.
According to him, office safety managers need to enforce safety procedures with principle of training of workers for heights positions in their workplace.
He explained that 95 percent of the time, body recoveries are done at various sites because of fall hazards that could have been avoided with proper trainings and retraining of mounting elevated positions.
Van Dyk noted that UK, Dubai and South Africa are known for safety trainings until recently that West Africa Height Safety Ltd came into the Nigeria.
Van Dyk stated that though, height safety is a relatively new concept, his company has train over 20,000 people to meet the national qualifications framework in the last five years.
Another expert, Mr. Jude Lorember stressed the need for operating companies to place priority on lives and safety to reduce the death toll.
He stated that many companies and individuals believe in saving cost by buying affordable safety equipment at the expense of safety.