Nigerian Companies- Occupational Safety situation, my view

Evolution of safety

 The study of occupational  safety and health has been in existence for as long as there have been structured work environments. Hippocrates (460-377 BC), for example, wrote of the harmful effects of an unhealthy workplace on slaves, and Caesar (100–40 BC) was reported to have an officer in charge of the safety of his legions (Pease, 1985; Weaver, 1980).

Governments began to make an impact on the health and safety of workers through legislation like the 1880 Employers’ Liability Act in England, and the OSH Act in the United Sates in 1970 but only in 1987 did Nigeria wake up to the call by introducing the present factories act of 1990 which in my opinion is becoming obsolete.The engineering field also had a strong influence on industrial safety through the work of such pioneers as William Haddon (father of automotive safety and PPE),Lillian Gilbreth (time and motion studies)
and Hywel Murrell (the father of ergonomics). Even though organizations have used the teachings of these early safety pioneers, and have a plethora of rules/regulation and policy/procedures, employees still
are getting hurt. While there has been continued progress in EHS over the last 4 decades, many organizations have reached a plateau and want to move their safety cultures from great to world-class. These organizations have robust training and education and efficient and effective safety processes, yet they lack continuous safety progress required of a world class organization.

Lets take a look at Nigerian Situation;  

The Nigerian Senate on Thursday, 27th September 2012 passed the Labour Safety, Health Welfare Bill aimed at protecting Nigerian workers. The bill, which was sponsored by Senator Chris Anyanwu, was read for the third time and passed at the Senate 

As documented in Punch Newspaper of Thursday 27th September 2012, The bill seeks imprisonment for any employer who breaches labour laws. It seeks to repeal and re-enact the Factory Act 2004 to make comprehensive provisions for securing the safety, health and welfare of persons at work. It is to promote safe and healthy work environment for employees and protect them from injuries and illnesses at their workplaces.

 It also seeks to protect others against risks to safety and health with regard to activities of persons at work in addition to establishing the National Council for Occupational Safety and Health. The amended bill contains 111 clauses and clause 83 deals with offences and penalties. It reads in part; “Any employer who fails to comply with any of the provisions of clauses 29, 30,31,32,33,34,35,36 and 37 of this bill relating to the duty of the employer commits an offence. “The person shall be liable on conviction to imprisonment for a term not less than one year or to a fine of not less than N500, 000. “Both fine and imprisonment in case of an individual and a fine of not less than N2m for a corporate body and in addition each director or manager of the body shall be liable to imprisonment for a term not less than one year. “Clause 31 (1) of the bill also states that an employer shall after being notified by a female employee that she is pregnant, adapt the working conditions of the female employee in such manner as to prevent occupational exposure. “This is to ensure that the embryo is afforded the same level of protection as required for members of the public and the employer shall not consider the notification of pregnancy as a reason to exclude the employee from work. “The employer is also required by this law to ensure that any female employee that is pregnant or nursing a baby is not exposed to ionizing radiation at the work place. On the construction and disposal of machinery, the bill in clause 52 stipulates that any person who manufactures, assemblies, sells or lets on hire any machine that does not comply with the requirement of this clause commits an offence. The person shall be liable to a penalty of N50, 000.00 for the first case of non compliance and N100,000.00 for every subsequent case of non compliance or N50 million for the first case of non compliance and N500m for every subsequent case.

Accident investigations rarely identify real accident causes, which are embedded deep within the organization. Therefore, recurrence is clearly inevitable. If one believes the findings of most accident investigations, then the real causes of workplace accidents are:

1) Careless employees: 40 percent

2) Beats me. Damn…I dunno! 25 percent

3) All other: 35 percent.

From the above illustration, it can be seen that management has control of all of the causes of accidents, therefore Federal Government of  Nigeria has a bigger role to play in protection Nigerian workers.

  

This “catch-all” category would include: employee carelessly used broken ladder, employee, without thinking, plugged defective tool into power source; inattentive employee fell over crate in the aisle; employee was performing normal job and back started to hurt; or distracted employee became trapped in unguarded machine.

 Obviously, such conclusions are open to question yet seldom are! 
 The problem: Accident investigations are a responsibility placed at a level within the organization (first-line) that cannot truly address real accident causes – upper level management decisions. A number of issues inhibit the effective implementation of comprehensive and meaningful safety practices. 

Challenges to effective safety practices in Nigeria, includes the following:

1. The extent of the safety network .
2. Bureaucracy and dishonest leadership
3. Lack of leadership commitment. 
4. The variety of agencies involved in safety throughout each State.
5. The lack of complete, accurate safety and analysis tools.
6. The diversity in organizational structure and capabilities of local jurisdictions.
7. The limited training and expertise in safety at the local level.
8. The shortage of funding and sometimes relative low priority for a local safety program.
9. Management structure that cannot adequately accommodate the delivery of a safety program.
10. Federal requirements that may increase the cost and time to implement effective safety improvements.
11. Poor legislation that are inadequate and not enforced.

What factors in the workplace contribute towards establishing a good safety culture?

Firstly, it is not possible to graft a safety culture onto an organisation, as each organisation is unique, and the best safety systems in the world will fail without a supportive culture.
Attitudes, both personal and organisational, affect the development of a safety culture in a workplace. The environment in which people work and the systems and processes in an organisation also influence the safety culture. Therefore, each organisation needs to consider all of these aspects in developing and nurturing a safety culture that suits the organisation and the individuals within it.

Safety cultures evolve gradually in response to local conditions, past events, the character of the leadership and the mood of the workforce

Remember the fire incident that razed a plastic factory in Ikorodu, Lagos in 2002 ? can you recall that  many workers were roasted to death at night because the Chinese owners of the company locked the workers in the factory and went to sleep at their highly secured residence guarded by our Nigerian policemen.  Members of the National Assembly, Lagos State House of Assembly and officials of the Federal Ministry of Labour visited the factory where the head of the ministry's delegation revealed that the plastic factory was an illegal addition to a registered firm called West African Engineering Company, till today, nobody can actually say what happened to the reports needless to say that the factory is still existing without proper safety management system put in place.

                                                           The way out

1. Commitment at all levels

The organisation that adopts safety and health as a core value and actively cares for the workforce. The vision for the organisation is that the workplace will be free of incidents/injuries and safety and health is integrated into every aspect of the work process. This attitude is evident throughout the organisation from the managing director through to the newest and most inexperienced member of the workforce.

2. Safety and health are treated as an investment not a cost
Risk management of safety and health issues is not treated as a cost, but as a way to improve the performance of the organisation. Safety and health is reported on as part of the budget development process and funded accordingly.

3. Safety and health is part of continuous improvement 

If safety and health is integrated into every part of the organisation then it becomes part of the continuous improvement process. This means that resources and time is set aside to ensure that the organisation can identify the weaknesses and develop strategy to resolve and strengthen safety performance.

4. Training and information is provided for everyone

People w ho should be  provided with regular information about safety and health at work are more likely to be mindful of safety and health issues and the ways in which their actions can affect themselves and others. Posters, warning signs and policies are not enough. Safety and health discussions and information distribution should be built into all aspects of the work process from board meetings to individual interactions.
People w ho are properly trained in their jobs and are aware of the hazards associated with the role they, or those they supervise, perform are less likely to suffer or cause injury. Training can take a variety of forms and should be ongoing throughout an individual’s time with the organisation.

5. A system for workplace analysis and hazard prevention and control is in place 

Management systems, safety systems and individual attitudes and perceptions can be researched, measured and analysed to gain a picture of the current state of the organisation and reveal barriers that prevent people from performing at their best. This is often referred to as a climate survey and assists in establishing a base line for the organisation to start from. Climate surveys are conducted at regular intervals in organizations that strive for a good safety culture to measure successes.

Reporting systems are easy to use i.e. compact, open-ended, impersonal and in practice management w ant to know and learn from hazard identification and near misses before they become accidents. Attention is paid to the details and small events. The w ay reports are analysed is agreed to ensure that individual and system issues are revealed and appropriate control measures taken.

6. The environment in which people work is blame free

Trust is an essential part of a good safety culture and often the most difficult hurdle to overcome in establishing a safety culture. Everyone in the organisation is encouraged to realize that incidents are worth reporting and feels comfortable in correcting unsafe practice across, down and up the hierarchy. If this is the case, management actually know what is going on and the workforce tell the truth, even if it is not w hat
management may w ant to hear. Holding people at all levels accountable for safety means embracing bad news.

7. The organisation celebrates successes
Recognition, rewards, incentives, reinforcement and feedback are important. A good safety culture makes it worthwhile for everyone to maintain a state of mindfulness by celebrating success whether big or small. 

Safety culture is about improving safety, and education is a core contribution to such development. It might surprise you to know that none of our schools have ''Occupational Safety and health'' as part of the curriculum in Nigeria  except the petroleum institutes.

Education is needed from infantry in my country,  if the Nigerian Government will find time out to evaluate the educational sector we may then shift from the emergency medical service (EMS) which is our level as illustrated in the diagram above i.e. to start a gradual process from reactive to Proactive safety (Safety culture),  in order to be at a safety level compared to world class standards.

Opinions and comments are  welcome.