•Sanwo-Olu inaugurates Safety First Campaign, Occupational Safety Cadets at LSSC Summit
Protection of the workers from risks that can potentially cause permanent injury at their workplaces was the central point of discussion at the third Lagos State Occupational Safety and Health Conference (LASOSH) held on Tuesday.
Stakeholders at the summit called for adoption of best practices across sectors and organisations which would make workers in Lagos to be fully protected from occupational hazards as they toil to contribute towards economic growth and prosperity of the State.
The event organised by the Lagos State Safety commission (LSSC) with the theme: “Occupational Safety and Health as a Catalyst for Nation Building”, was held at Lagos Oriental Hotel in Victoria Island.
Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu said the summit reaffirmed his administration’s resolve to build a safer, healthier, and more prosperous Lagos for the workforce, noting that the event underscored the critical role that safety played in driving sustainable development, economic growth, and societal progress.
Sanwo-Olu stressed that a society that aspired to prosper must first safeguard the lives of its people, pointing out that workers deserved to leave their homes with dignity, arrive at their workplaces safely and return to their families in the same condition without occupational injury.
This understanding, the Governor said, underpinned his Government’s policies and actions taken daily.
He said: “We pioneered the signing of the first-ever Lagos State Safety Policy, which is a document that continues to guide our strategies, strengthen accountability, and demonstrate our government’s unwavering commitment to protecting lives and property. Through the Lagos State Safety Commission, we have designed and implemented practical, results-driven interventions across critical sectors of our economy.
“This intervention has resulted in a drastic reduction of incidents in construction, manufacturing, education, hospitality, events management, and the food industry, amongst others. Our approach is driven by routine and impromptu safety audits and inspections, while ensuring that lessons learned are swiftly translated into policy and practice. I must commend the Commission for the strides it has made in significantly fulfilling its mandate by proactively making Lagos safer for us all.
”From its operation base in Alausa, the LSSC, which was established in 2011, had opened zonal offices across the State, bringing safety governance closer to our people.
Sanwo-Olu said the Commission’s grassroots presence had enabled quicker response times, wider sensitisation and a stronger safety culture within communities.
The Governor, at the conference, inaugurated Safety First Campaign and Occupational Safety Cadre, which he described as “first of its kind” in Sub-Saharan Africa.
He said: “This groundbreaking cadre is not just a bureaucratic innovation; it is a bold declaration that Lagos is setting new standards in public service professionalism. It means safety will not be treated as an ad-hoc responsibility but as a recognised career path, complete with structure, expertise, and continuity.
“The future of safety lies in technology and data. Lagos has taken the lead with the deployment of a safety application that empowers citizens to report hazards in real time, drones for aerial surveillance of high-risk zones, and body cameras equipped with thermal functionalities to support compliance monitoring, enforcement, and emergency response.
“These tools are deliberate investments in predictive governance. They allow us to identify safety issues as they emerge, study trends and patterns, and act proactively rather than reactively. This is how Lagos is setting the pace, using innovation not only to secure today but also to anticipate tomorrow.
”Commissioner for Special Duties and Intergovernmental Relations, Mr. Olugbenga Oyerinde, said the State Government’s priority was to ensure efficient occupational and public safety strategy, adding that every worker deserved to live and work without injury.
Oyerinde said the summit had grown to become a forum for intellectual discourse even as the construction sector continue to grow on a daily basis.
LSSC Director-General, Dr. Lanre Mojola, presented the Commission’s enforcement activities in the last three years, noting that Event and Hospitality industry remained the highest burdened sector in its enforcement activities, followed by construction.
Mojola said the Commission’s advocacy had yielded positive outcomes in manufacturing and building sectors, where adherence to safety regulations had been significantly standardised.
He said the current focus of the agency was to integrate Artificial Intelligence (AI) into its operational capability which would enable predictive analysis of workplace hazards.
The LSSC further said the agency would be deepening its inspection and deploying Safe Start Principle across all sectors of its operations. Reporting of Injuries, Incidents and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations (RIIDOR), he said, was another step being taken to improve safety standards in Lagos.