Lagos moves to ensure safety on high-rise buildings

In a move aimed at ensuring the safety of workers and residents in high-rise buildings, the Lagos State Government through the Safety Commission, has convened a stakeholder forum to deepen a culture of safety among facility managers and safety professionals in the state.

The forum is to entrench collaboration and sustain standards among safety stakeholders towards preventing avoidable fatalities in the built environment, particularly on high-rise buildings.

Speaking at the forum with the theme; ‘Safe Building, Protected Workforce’, Lanre Mojola, director-general, Lagos Safety Commission, said it has become expedient to give consideration to facility management and safety during building designs.

“This theme; Safe Building, Protected Workforce’, is very personal to me, having spent over a decade on the front lines of facility management in Nigeria, before having the privilege of leading the safety commission. I have seen firsthand how buildings live, how buildings age, how buildings operate, how buildings are managed and maintained,” he noted.

Mojola described building as a dynamic living ecosystem that must be tested on a daily basis, through operational discipline, routine maintenance, electrical and mechanical checks, vertical transportation checks, fire system checks and readiness.

According to him “Every failure, fire outbreak, or avoidable workplace incident we witness across our mega cities, is a stark reminder that safety cannot be treated as an afterthought or a quick tick box exercise. It is the core operational framework that protects lives, preserves asset value, and maintains public trust.

“So, when we speak of a protected workforce, we are looking at how to ensure that the crews on the roof, the painters on the scaffold, the cleaners, the third-party contractors executing high-risk tasks are safe. We are also ensuring that we’re protecting them and we’re guarding them from injuries, from accidents, perhaps some that can lead to fatalities.”

Seun Awojobi, technical adviser, Lagos Safety Commission, said that the engagement provided an opportunity to collaborate and develop practical implementable solutions that will strengthen construction safety facility management and occupational health across the state.

Awojobi maintained that as Lagos continues to expand as Africa ‘s leading economic and commercial hub with rising skylines, industries high-rise building and growing workforce, it is important to leverage the economic opportunity that comes with it while upholding the highest standards of safety quality and regulatory compliance.

Lekan Akinwumi, the guest speaker at the forum, emphasised on the power of collaboration between facility managers and safety professionals. He said that the workplace was meant to be a place of comfort where there is a chain of collaboration that brings about safety while taking into cognizance facility management and occupational safety.

Others, including Stephen Udenzi, president, Institute of Safety Professional of Nigeria( Ispon); also stressed the importance of industry collaboration the government. They harped on managing safety in high-rise buildings and strategies to prepare the ground to prevent disaster.