By Peter Uzoho
Samsung Heavy Industries Nigeria has announced that it has reached a significant health and safety milestone of 2,000 days with no lost time injuries (LTI) at its subsidiary SHI-MCI, Africa’s largest ship fabrication and integration yard located in Lagos.
Given the risks associated with shipbuilding, safety has remained the top priority at Samsung Heavy Industries.
Its subsidiary SHI-MCI had in 2019, celebrated 1,200 days with no LTI, and this latest celebration of 2,000 days without LTI would not have been possible if any major injury was inflicted to employees.
According to a statement by the company, it recorded the 2,000 days without LTI on June 4, 2021.
This achievement, according to the company, was reflective of SHIN’s intense focus on ensuring the health and safety of its entire workforce through significant investment in training and oversight.
The ship-building industry is potentially a very dangerous one with heavy machinery in operation, explosive gases used for welding and high temperatures in enclosed spaces.
This means that there are many challenges to ensuring the health and safety of a large and diverse workforce.
Commenting on the achievement, Senior Health, Safety and Environment (HSE) Manager of Samsung Heavy Industries, Nigeria, Mr. Bala Adjuya, said:
“At Samsung Heavy Industries, Nigeria, one of our main focuses is the health and safety of everyone.
“We prioritise the importance of our staff, partners and stakeholders getting home safely every day.
“We do this by using the highest standard of protective equipment and safety measures at work daily. Every life is valued and given the upmost priority, this is why SHIN take health and safety very seriously,” Adjuya explained.
Adjuya added that the company ensures the extensive training of all employees.
According to him, all visitors and contractors at SHI-MCI’s sites are given the safety requirements and the right equipment to attend to the daily tasks at work.
“This industry is one of the most dangerous as we use heavy machineries, dangerous gases and chemicals in our various areas of work at our facility. With the rigorous training and awareness programmes laid out by Samsung Heavy Industries Nigeria, these risks have been severely reduced and the facility remains one of the safest in the country,” he explained.
In addition to continuous staff training, the company also investigates every worksite for hazards and implements mitigation measures with active HSE personnel constantly on sites to ensure safety protocols are followed.
LTI is a HSE term which means “lost time injury”, which is an injury sustained by an employee that will lead to loss of productive work time.
Even one minor incident will result in a complete reset of the LTIs counter to zero.
The company had set for itself, a target of 0.9 per cent LTIs on the Egina FPSO Project in Nigeria.
In order to achieve this challenging target, SHI-MCI followed a rigorous process.
At the peak of the Egina FPSO Project, Samsung Heavy Industries Nigeria employed approximately 3,500 employees at its fabrication and integration yard in Lagos.
Anti-corruption Group Demands Details of N9.4bn Digital Expenditure
The Minister of Information, Alhaji Lai Mohammed has been asked to release details of expenditure on payment to key Digital Switch Over, (DSO) stakeholders.
In a letter addressed to the minister last week, Nigeria’s foremost anti-corruption coalition, Civil Society Network Against Corruption, (CSNAC), asked the minister to make available to the public how the N9.4billion funds released to the stakeholders was spent.
The letter with the caption “Request for information on the N9.4b approved by the Federal Executive Council (FEC) Pursuant to the Freedom of Information Act (FOI ACT 2011)” was sent to the Minister last Monday
In March 2021, during the unveiling of the 13 – member Ministerial Task Force on Digital Switch Over (DSO), Mohammed had reportedly announced that the Federal Executive Council (FEC) approved the sum of N9.4 billion as outstanding payment to key Digital Switch Over (DSO) stakeholders.
CSNAC in the letter signed by its Chairman, Mr. Olanrewaju Suraju said the minister has immediate obligation to make public how the funds were expended.
The request by CSNAC was hinged on legal framework of the Freedom of Information (FOI) Act 2021 which mandates public access to vital information.
The CSNAC has some 140 affiliate members spread across Nigeria representing the country’s most formidable anti-corruption network and by far one of the most influential in Africa.
“Nigerians have the right to know how the funds were spent. We are making the request in the overall public interest and in line with transparency and accountability in public administration” Suraju said in the letter.
