By Grace Alegba
The Society of Energy Administrators (SEA) Nigeria, has blamed incessant accidents in various sectors in the nation to negligence of safety standards due to failure of regulatory bodies to hold them accountable.
SEA National President, Dr Yekeen Adeboye, said this on Sunday in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos.
Adeboye said there were no national standards or guidelines to enforce accountability on the part of safety experts. hence the birth of SEA in 2021 to correct the anomalies.
He said the effects of lack of operating standards wer seen in hazards like building collapses, road crashes, tanker explosions, flooding, health hazards resulting in various avoidable illnesses, among others.
He said whenever accidents happened, the experts in that particular department were supposed to be held liable for their actions or inactions but that was not happening in Nigeria.
He said that SEA was partnering with the Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON) to develop standards for enforcement of Health, Safety and Environment (HSE) risk management accountability.
NAN reports that HSE refers to a branch, or department, within an organisation that is responsible for the observance and protection of occupational health and safety rules and regulations along with environmental protection.
He said various inspectorate units for vehicles, buildings and other facilities inspection were usually docile due to absence of regulatory body hence the birth of SEA.
“These inspectorate units across all the regulatory agencies have the mandate for facilities’ integrity maintenance and accident prevention but there is usually a challenge because of lack of training and a professional body to carry out effective monitoring.
“Our mission basically is HSE conservation and accident prevention in industrial work places, construction sites and development agencies as far as this country is concerned but we cannot work without standards,’’ he said.
He explained that partnership with NAN created awareness leading to SEA setting up a committee with SON.
“So far, we have developed the draft standard and it has been submitted to the SON. We are at the stage of setting up the technical review committee to look at the standard and do the necessary things for its final approval.
“By the special grace of God, as soon as the standard is approved, then, we can now be in position to do the enforcement,’’ he said.
He said the society would use its forthcoming second annual conference and induction of new members billed for June 25, to fast-track establishment of an Energy Council.
He said the theme of the conference is “Highlighting Critical Energy Technologies For Overcoming Barriers to Green Energy Transition for Zero Carbon Emission and Economic Sustainability in Nigeria“.
He said the conference would provide opportunity for stakeholders in all sectors in the nation’s economy to converge and share ideas on how to make the nation’s environment safer for all.
Speaking on construction sector, he called on project monitoring officers to enforce compliance to materials quality as well as ensure the right experts handled projects.
He said that standard, materials, competence and other indices that resulted in building collapses and construction failure would be addressed when SEA fully takes charge.
He urged the media to join in the awareness campaign to ensure government agencies and the private sector did their parts to achieve effective safety and security of human life, property and environment. (NAN)
