By Vivian Onyebukwa
•Some members of ISPON who attended the event
In commemoration of this year’s World Day For Safety and Health At Work, the Institute of Safety Professionals of Nigeria (ISPON), Lagos State branch, took its awareness campaign to the Lagos State Orientation Camp of the National Youth Service Corp (NYSC) in Iyana-Ipaja.
Chairman of ISPON, Lagos State branch, Oluseye Ogunleye, said the campaign was necessary to provide some level of awareness to the young corps members, and also provide them an opportunity to get inspired towards protection of their health and safety at work. It was also to enable them become vanguards or advocates for the protection of workers’ health and safety at work.
“One focus we have is that, as they go back to their primary assignment, they would be exposed. Luckily, the theme for the 2024 World Day for safety and health at work is, ‘The impact of climate on the health and safety of workers,’” Ogunleye said.
He noted that the organization saw it as necessary, given that, in the next few weeks, the corps members would be deployed to their places of primary assignment and they may be exposed to the impact of climate change. He further stated that climate change has become a reality, describing it as a big race and no longer a marathon.
“The world is in a sprint and racing for the protection of entire health from the issues of global health. Global warming is something that has become really global. You can see the impact in our world. Our communities have become covens.
“We are in a tropical zone and, as it is, our atmosphere has become so warm, running into as high as 36 or 37 degrees in the day. Even at night, the differences are not quite so much; probably on average of 36 or 37 degrees to about 28 or 29, which is quite high. So, it is going to affect everybody.”
He emphasised the reason for their visit to the orientation camp, was to bring to the youths’ consciousness the six core hazards identified by the International Labour Organisation (ILO), indicating that these hazards have become prevalent, affecting about 70 percent of the global workforce. He said, currently, statistics show that 70 percent of lower workforce are exposed to hazards.
Mentioning the six work hazards, he said: “Excessive heat, ultra-violent radiation, extreme weather event, air pollution in the workplace, diseases that are vector-borne, and agro chemicals. These are what workers globally are exposed to and the corps members, once they leave the camp, they join the workforce and get exposed to the same hazards at the workplace.”
His recommendation was that they must bring about some level of enlightenment: “One of the things we will be doing is to begin to work with the government to look at our legislations and how best to ensure that policies are put in place that will promote the wellbeing and protection of workers against these hazards. Beyond the national level, at the enterprise level, organisations and companies, we are expecting to work with employees to begin to consider what can be done to protect workers.
“So, corps members, for instance, the excessive heat will have the impact such as stroke, heat stress, heat exhaustion, cramps, etc. In a worse case scenario, you will be having cardiovascular diseases and acute kidney injuries.
“So, work can be done to respond to these issues. It will be for workers to get some level of aclamatization, re-arrange their work to ensure they can work at periods when the heat has not come up and they are protected.
“The kind of clothing they put on is very important at the time. Secondly, because of climate change, ultra-violet radiation has become more prevalent and causing issues such as sun burn, skin blistering, acute eye damage, weakened immune systems and cataract.”
Ogunleye added that while these would be issues of working with government on laws and policies at workplace level, devices should be provided by the employers such as sun shades, sunscreens and ensure that work is done in shaded areas, not directly under the sun.
“Extreme weather condition will become very prevalent. For instance, storms and flooding that would be causing damage around and we must protect ourselves. We expect organisations to put in emergency preparedness responses. They should not wait until this event starts to happen, to ensure that people are not caught off guard.
“Where you have air pollution, you are going to have issues of cancer, respiratory diseases and cardio-vascular disorders. So, there should be proper ventilation at the workplace, and rotating job roles so that people don’t get exposed for a long time to the same thing in a polluted environment.”
The fifth hazard, which he mentioned, were diseases caused by vectors such as insects and rodents. “To avoid diseases such as malaria. What do we do ? We need to begin to encourage government to sponsor more research in addressing these issues. We will also look at protecting workers through providing measures that would reduce their exposure.”
He equally identified chemicals as part of the hazards which have become part of major industrial processes globally.
“Exposure of chemicals can cause food poisoning, cancer, endocrine disruptions, reproductive disorders, and pulmonary diseases that could affect the lungs and also immune suppression. So, we will encourage government to begin to be more detailed in the kind of policies that are put in place and be sure that these policies and legislations are enforced to protect workers. One of the key issues that can be done by employers at the company level is to understand the exposure limit of the chemicals they work with and ensure that the exposure is reduced to acceptable limits,” Ogunleye said.
Some of the corps members lauded the idea of ISPON, describing it as an eye-opener.
“I never knew about all these before now. I commend and implore them to continue with the work they are doing, especially creating awareness,” one of them said.