Lagos State government has warned against unsafe fuel storage in homes, markets, and workplaces which can result in fires with resultant loss of lives and properties.
The Director General, of Lagos State Safety Commission (LSSC), Mr. Lanre Mojola, gave this warning, following SOS messages received from residents of Festac Town over the unsafe sale of fuel on the road which could endanger the lives of citizens in the environs.
Mojola, in a statement issued to newsmen on Monday by the Deputy Director of the Commission, Mrs. Adewunmi Okoh, declared that LSSC was working with the State Taskforce on monitoring and enforcement against public safety infractions across Lagos and would come down hard on persistent defaulters.
According to him, the dry weather occasioned by the harmattan, coupled with storage of fuel in homes, marketplaces, and workplaces and the careless disposal of cigarettes stubs, adulterated fuel, electrical surges and sparks, petrol leakages, illegal wire connections often trigger fires that can lead to loss of lives and properties.
He said the Commission as a regulatory agency saddled with the responsibility of ensuring the safety of lives and properties carries out its activities through a proactive process of policy formulation, setting safety standards, carrying out advocacy programmes to promote safety culture in the state, adding that such goes a long way to prevent accidents and protect the citizens.
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The LSSC boss highlighted some preventable causes of explosions, saying that it calls on all to stay away from storing fuel at home, shops, or marketplaces, while everyone should equally always ensure his or her generator was switched off before fueling as well as endeavor to have a fire extinguisher at home, shops and marketplaces.
According to him, it is extremely dangerous to place generating sets on the decking of storey buildings, saying rather they should be kept outside the building and at a distance, even as he further warned that it was better not to leave electrical appliances on and unattended to, but should be switched them off when not in use.
“Do not overload sockets with multiple electrical appliances. Install smoke alarms/detectors in your homes, offices, and stores. In case of emergency, pls call 112 or 767,” he added.
He, therefore, urged members of the public to support the government to fight the menace of fire and gas incidences ravaging the land.
