Introduction
‘Safety first, not a fad but a way of life’ We at Soc Energy Services believe that Safety comes first as it guarantees the preservation and protection of lives and properties. Fire safety awareness in particular is crucial in guaranteeing the safety of life properties as it requires adequate knowledge and individual/collective efforts.
We all can admit that there has been an increase in fire incidents across the country(Nigeria) and more prominently in Lagos State. Fire is a respecter of no class, status, or person. It is also alarming the damage and loss a fire incident can cause ranging from unemployment, loss of lives and properties, and a decrease in revenue generated by the state.
According to a statistical analysis carried out in 2018/2020 by the Nigerian building /research institute, more than 70% of homes, commercial buildings, markets, and offices in Lagos State have no functional fire fighting equipment or suppression systems installed and most of the buildings lack adequately trained personnel on fire safety and usage in a case of an eventuality of a fire incident.
Lagos State is the commercial nerve center of Nigeria. Yet, the people who make up the city are not properly sensitized to the relevance of fire safety and the need to employ the necessary precautions to avoid/limit the effects of fire hazards in their environment, homes, and place of work. It is very well known that fire incidents affect the economic growth of any given society, the citizens and the government both record losses whenever a fire hazard occurs.
Further statistics shown in The Guardian newspaper (03 Sep 2021) that between 2020-2021 the Lagos state fire service received 4,541 calls on fire incidents,31 market fires recorded in 18 months and N41,54 Billion lost in revenue alone to market fires in just 2 years. Lagos State also tops the list for the state with the most commercial/market fire incidents.
However, enlightenment and advocacy on fire prevention and management must not be left in the hands of the government alone. Everyone must be involved collectively to spread fire safety awareness and every home, market, and the public building must have at least functional fire fighting equipment and 1 trained personnel available at all times.
About The Safe Homes & Offices Initiative
As a safety Oriented company, our ‘Numero Uno’ objective is advocating and championing the cause regarding the safety of lives and properties. In our quest to achieve this foot and contribute to our society at large we birthed the ‘SAFE HOMES AND OFFICES INITIATIVE. With this initiative, we look forward to creating more awareness of the relevance of fire safety for individuals and organizations across Nigeria. This initiative is focused solely on creating solutions and providing services that will help reduce fire hazards across the country.
As a Safety service company, we understand the relevance of these solutions and services and their effects on saving lives, reducing property damage, reducing revenue loss, and creating a more safety-inclined environment for Nigerian citizens. We at SOC Energy Services are dedicated to bridging the gap in this sector.
According to the research carried out by the Nigerian building /research institute survey shows that 55% of fire outbreaks happen in homes/offices and commercial buildings and 75% of cases where they had total loss due to fire incidents have no fire fighting equipment/suppression systems in place,22% have fire fighting equipment but lack knowledge on their usage and 2% have fire fighting equipment failure. From this research carried out and additional survey carried out by Soc Energy Services we believe the problem is clearly identified and the solution therein.
Objectives For The Initiative
TO SAVE LIVES
People make up the society, and their day-to-day well-being is important to us as a safety & service company. We intend through this initiative to increase awareness of fire prevention tips and advice/training on applicable fire fighting equipment for individuals, homes, and offices to help reduce fire outbreaks thereby saving lives.
TO REDUCE PROPERTY/REVENUE LOSS
With the right awareness/trained personnel and fire fighting equipment in place, fire incidents will be reduced to a minimum, this will in turn reduce property loss and the loss of revenue for the citizens.
IMPROVE ON LIVING EXPERIENCE
When a certain level of safety is guaranteed in the home and workplace environment, the quality of life of its citizens is improved as there is assurance and adequate awareness and fire fighting equipment in place in case of any eventuality.
CREATE A MORE SAFETY INCLINED SOCIETY
The safe homes and office initiative is centered around creating more awareness, using the media as our means of reaching out to the public, and calling on the society at large in the role they are to play as citizens/Fire fighting agencies, individuals in fire safety and fire prevention and the necessary measures to be put in place to reduce fire outbreaks in homes, offices, markets, and public buildings.
TRAIN MORE INDIVIDUALS TO USE FIRE FIGHTING EQUIPMENTS
Effective training will be carried out, to educate individuals on how to use basic fire fighting equipment needed for their buildings, homes, offices, and facilities using an approach suitable to each class of understanding to teach and impact in them the knowledge of fire safety.
INCREASE STATE REVENUE
Effectively reducing fire incidents in the state will help generate more revenue for the state.
Our Approach
With the collaborative support from the federal fire service/Lagos state fire service, SOC will organize training, seminars & workshops to provide the necessary strategies, campaigns, and solutions that will help to adequately increase fire safety awareness through the new media and ensure a significant increase in the implementation of the federal fire service code across Nigerian states.