Victory Bernard
A building may be structurally sound, a fire system may meet the required standard and an emergency plan may look perfect on paper. But what happens when the conditions those systems were designed for begin to change?
That question took centre stage during a panel discussion on “Sustainability, Innovation and Prevention” at the Sustainability Innovation Conference 2.0, held at the Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI) Conference and Exhibition Centre, Ikeja, Lagos, on September 5.
The panel brought together Technical Director, Safety Consultants and Solution Providers Limited, Anthonia Beri; Immediate Past National Chairman, Nigerian Institution of Safety Engineers, Engr. Seun Faluyi; Executive Director, Food and Beverage Recycling Alliance, Agharese Lucia Onaghise; and Executive Director, SafetyPlus, Tokunbo Odebunmi, while Femi Giwa guided the conversation.
Rather than allowing the discussion to remain within the boundaries of conventional safety practice, Giwa’s questions drew the panellists toward the practical relationship between sustainability, innovation and prevention, prompting them to examine how systems can respond when environmental conditions, industrial processes and human behaviour change.
Beri set the tone by highlighting how conditions that safety systems were originally designed for can change, particularly as climate-related pressures alter the environment in which buildings and other infrastructure operate.
She argued that resilience must be built into systems rather than treated as something to consider after failure.
“Nature does not start with errors. Safety by nature is built into the system. The roots of trees give strength to waves, and that is what safety engineering and resilience should be about.”
Beri noted that buildings designed under lower temperature conditions may face different demands as temperatures rise, while hazards such as wildfires that were once regarded as occasional are becoming more frequent.
She said this makes continuous monitoring and adaptation necessary if safety systems are to remain effective under changing conditions.
For Immediate Past National Chairman, Nigerian Institution of Safety Engineers, Engr. Seun Faluyi, the danger of relying on response after conditions have deteriorated is particularly evident during fires.
“When you say there is a fire, it is too late. It’s already too late. We need to move beyond just reacting to incidents and begin to think about how we can anticipate what could go wrong.”
Faluyi said the same principle should guide engineering and construction, stressing that safety needs to be considered while systems are being designed and built.
He maintained that sustainability, innovation and prevention should form part of the foundation of engineering decisions rather than being treated as separate considerations.
Taking the discussion beyond buildings and emergency incidents, Executive Director, Food and Beverage Recycling Alliance, Agharese Lucia Onaghise, focused on how products and resources are managed throughout their lifecycles.
She argued that prevention must begin from the point where raw materials are selected and continue through production and eventual end-of-life disposal.
“We can adopt a life cycle approach whereby at the point of production, we are looking at the raw material. We’re looking at the end of life. We need to anticipate the harm to the environment and to people when that product reaches the end of its life.”
Onaghise said the approach could help industries manage energy, waste and other critical resources more efficiently while reducing pollution and conserving raw materials.
Meanwhile, Executive Director, SafetyPlus, Tokunbo Odebunmi, identified communication as another factor that can determine whether safety systems achieve their purpose.
He argued that delivering safety information is not enough if the intended audience does not understand it or change its behaviour as a result.
“The fact that something dropped off my mouth is not as important as what arrived at you. If the person does not understand it, does not adopt it, does not believe it or does not change behaviour, then it was only a sound, not communication.”
Odebunmi said communication must therefore be considered as part of the safety structure, particularly where organisations expect people to understand, adopt and act on safety measures.
Across the discussion, the panellists approached the issue from different points, changing climate conditions, engineering, fire safety, resource management and communication but their contributions pointed to the same challenge: safety systems cannot remain effective simply because they worked under previous conditions.
The discussion formed part of the wider programme surrounding the launch of Dr. Julius Abanshebe Akpong’s work on biomimicry and accident prevention, but the panel focused on broader questions around how organisations can adapt their systems to withstand changing conditions and prevent harm.
As environmental and operational conditions continue to evolve, the discussion raised a fundamental question for industry: are the systems designed to keep people safe capable of adapting fast enough to the conditions they now face?
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