The West Africa Container Terminal (WACT) commissioned a firefighting truck, recovery tow truck and a water bowser truck to mark the 2024 Annual Global Safety Day at Onne Port, Rivers State last Wednesday.
The event themed, “Be Curious Because We Care”, reflects WACT’s utmost and underlying priority: keeping all workers, contractors and other stakeholders at the terminal safe.
The company said safety is not a one-time, annual focus – “it is our licence to operate and the commitment we make every day to our colleagues that, no matter what their work is, or where it is, they get to go home safely at the end of the day.
Speaking at the event, the General Manager, Government and Public Relations, Innocent Ogbuji, said WACT is committed to safety and ensures continuous improvement on safety. He further emphasised the importance of safety by encouraging colleagues, government officials and everyone present to be curious about safety in the right direction.
“All this while, safety has been engineered from the top, but we want it to start from you, and that is why we want you to be curious. From the top, we make policies, processes and you carry it out but now, we want you to question things to learn more about the process and improve it. We also encourage the government agencies to be curious with us,’’ he said.
Also speaking, WACT’s Health, Safety and Environment (HSE) Manager, Adeboye Ogunpolu, said, “We are committed to ensuring that everyone who comes to our terminal, colleagues, customers, vendors, government agencies, no matter what their work is, or where it is, they get to go home safely at the end of the day.”
According to him, the company has deployed some proactive initiatives to ensure that safety is at its peak and that includes the procurement of a brand new firefighting truck, recovery tow truck and water bowser truck.
“These new additions will significantly enhance our safety measures and emergency response capabilities. I encourage everyone to take ownership and responsibility of safety in their respective workspace even in the drive to work efficiently. Ensure you are your brother’s keeper because our first commitment to safety is that we come to work safe and go back home safely. Stay curious, learn something every day and stay safe,’’ he said.
Also speaking that the event, the Senior Safety Officer of Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA), Onne Port Complex, Osuntuyi Niyi, commended WACT for observing the annual Global Safety Day to promote safety in the workplace and reiterated NPA’s vision to deliver efficient port services in a safe, secure and customer-friendly environment.
“Safety is very paramount, and it is everybody’s responsibility. Ensure you take safety very seriously in your day-to-day operations,’’ he said.
Quality, Health, Safety and Environment (QHSE) Manager of INTELS Nigeria Ltd, Ottomfonobong Akpan, who delivered the keynote address, commended WACT for maintaining safety at a high level.
“It is important that we show the strong desire to know more and there are five things we should be inquisitive about in the workplace and they include people, equipment, materials, methods and the environment,” he said.
The 2024 Global Safety Day celebration was attended by many stakeholders including the representatives of Nigerian Ports Authority, Nigeria Customs Service, National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, Nigeria Agricultural Quarantine Service, and the Standards Organisation of Nigeria, among others.
The highpoint of the event includes Emergency Response Preparedness display by the WACT Emergency Response Team, commissioning of the new firefighting truck, recovery truck and water bowser truck, and presentation of awards to workers who were outstanding in safety practices in the last one year.
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