A TICKING TIME BOMB.
Consumption of Liquefied Petroleum Gas (cooking gas) in Nigeria has increased to 125, 000 tons per Annum. This is about 56 percent increase from 70,000 tons consumed last year. According to reports from Daily Trust, President of the Liquefied Petroleum Gas Association, Alhaji Awalu Ilu, said the quantity still fell short of the requirement of the growing population of the country.
Nigeria is still among the countries with very low consumption of cooking gas with respect to the huge population its commands. This shows the level of poverty in the country where cheaper alternatives such as firewood, kerosene and charcoal are used instead.
The increased consumption of cooking gas could be attributed to increasing cost of kerosene which most Nigerians use for cooking. With more investment coming into the Liquefied Petroleum Gas sector, it is expected that consumption will increase.
Each day I move around in Lagos I see entrepreneurs tap into the young and volatile Gas business in Nigeria in their own little capacity through dispensing of cooking gas for domestic use. My area of concern is the dangers this kind of business expose US to. Today over 2000kg of these gases are stored at dispensing points which in most cases are fully residential building. A fire incident at these illegal dispensing points will result into mighty explosion that will leave greater damage more than that of the BOKO HARAM BOMB. Moving shock wave will cause ventricular fibrillation to the hearts, charged flying particles will piece the human body, and loud sound can result into temporary and permanent hearing loss.
This practice is in breach of the DPR regulations, National fire code {2008}, Lagos State Fire Service Act and the Factory act. Other international breached regulations are the health and safety at work recommendation R115 and the C115, health and safety at work regulation 1999 and work place safety act.
The government has neglected the legal and moral duties she supposed to show to Nigerians by protecting their life, property and welfare of the people. The government must protect the people from harm of exploding cooking gas. The government must ensure that these businesses are set up away from high population area where there will be little impact on the population should there be any fire/explosion. The government must force the owners of the business to ensure that they practice optimum safety in the shop- electrical installation must be intrinsically safe, no use of mobile phones, generators must be positioned at least 15meters from the shops, proper storage facility, no use of candles and other naked lights in the shops. The shop owners must be licensed by appropriate authority before operation start. Licensing should include level 1 safety certification of the business owners and there must be proper supervision by competent government authorities.
Land lord should know the intended use of the property by a tenant before leasing out the property. If the intention is to use the property as a gas dispensing facility and there are other residential occupants, such rent should fall through. In health and safety, this is a crime and it is in breach of the regulation 4 of the HASAWA 1974 act. The incidence of fire in such a building could result into explosion which will definitely cause death to all occupants in the building as at the time of the explosion. Deaths and other related serious injuries will also occur in adjacent buildings to the explosion up to 1.5 miles away.
The present practice is such that no one cares about the safety of life and property but care is giving to profit maximization. We may not appreciate this piece until we witness an incident, trust me I have seen it before, this is my job….. it is always DISASTROUS. I can predict that more than 10 souls will be killed, many will be injured by shock wave and flying object, more that 4buildings will be affected, many cars will be damaged and the traumatic effect it will have on the resident of the street cannot be quantified.
Now I am calling of the federal and state governments through their relevant agencies like the Federal Fire Service {fire prevention and inspectorate services}, State Fire Services, DPR, Nigerian Police and NEMA to live up to their responsibility. They should enforce the existing laws of the land before this ticking time bomb explodes.
Usman Hammed {GIFireE, ANISP}
Fire Safety Instructor! HSE Specialist! First Aider.
08028558872 ! 08098558872
sheconcept@gmail.com

nice write up.