Determined to ensure it takes its safety campaign across various sectors, especially at the workplace, Lafarge Africa Plc, a leading building solutions provider, has partnered with Canaancity Consortium, an association of indigenous and foreign companies, on a safety awareness programme for 200 employees of the consortium.
This partnership is aimed at improving safety standards and practices at the sites of Canaancity which is building over 700 housing units in the first phase of estates it is developing. More estates are planned. Directors and heads of projects of the consortium attended a one-day health and safety training at the Covenant University guesthouse, Otta, Ogun State at the weekend.
Lafarge is a chief exponent of safety in the workplace and the environment generally. The company has an ambitious plan of reducing accidents at its operations by 30 percent year-on-year.
Bruno Hounkpati, Director of Logistics at Lafarge, who disclosed this to BusinessDay in an interview, also hinted that the company was out with a driving school initiative that seeks to produce 2,000 trained drivers in the next three years. The aim, he explained, is to ensure safe driving on the roads.
Speaking about the training initiative for the construction industry, Graeme Bride, Director for Health and Safety at Lafarge said, “we are always pleased to share our experience on safety in the Nigerian construction industry. Our aspiration to do business with zero harm is not limited to our factories and employees. We are also particular about safety on the sites of clients and contractors.”
The CEO of Canaancity Consortium, Tokunbo Olofin said, “we are happy to partner with Lafarge on this initiative. It will improve our project site safety standards and reduce lost time incidents. We see this engagement as an avenue to build a stronger relationship with Lafarge.”
During the training programme, engineers, technicians and other operational employees were trained on the risks related to their construction work while health workers were trained on how to prepare for and respond to emergencies. There were also sessions on the best onsite safety practices such as the deployment of safety signages as well as procedures for reporting and responding to incidents.
CHUKA UROKO
