MEET THE STAFF SERIES

Standard Procedures Guarantees Safe Operations - Nuhu Umar Dabai

CCD: Briefly tell us about your background?

NUD: My names are Nuhu Umar Dabai, I was born on the 4^th November, 1985 in Zuru Town, Kebbi State. I attended Rikoto Model Primary School Zuru, upon completion, I went Government Science College Zuru and attended Waziri Umaru Federal Polytechnic, Birnin Kebbi where I obtained National Diploma (ND) in Science Laboratory Technology. I further proceeded to Kebbi State University of Science and Technology Aliero, where I acquired a B.Sc. and M.Sc. Degrees in Biochemistry. I also obtained some professional qualifications in Health Safety and Environment and Computer Application and Data Processing just to mention but a few. Before I joined this Company, I worked with Ministry of Health, Kebbi State and National Institute for Pharmaceutical Research and Development, Idu Abuja, as Laboratory Technician and Scientist respectively.

CCD: When did you join Kaduna Electric and what did your job roll entails?

NUD: I joined Kaduna Electricity Distribution Company on the 1st September, 2015 as Health Safety and Environmental Officer (HSEO) Kebbi Area Office to date. As the HSEO I am vested with the responsibility of preparing HSE activities work plan, corresponding budget or cost implication, monitoring and advising in the

Implementations of corporate policy on occupational HSE, conducting monthly HSE inspection/audit of equipment and plants, staff and public HSE enlightenment, ensuring that no work is permitted until it has met all HSE standards, and standard operational procedures are observed and complied with by all staff involved, HSE training and rendering of monthly incidents and accidents reports as well as the quarterly reports of HSE activities and many more. Thus, these responsibilities seriously demand a lot of devotion and dedication, as a sensitive key area of the company’s operations. In spite of the associated challenges, the HSE department is committed to ensuring that a zero tolerance to accident and other company’s mission and vision is maximally attained.

CCD: As HSE Officer, what are the challenges you face in discharging your duties?

NUD: As HSE officer, the major challenges affecting our duty is both at the side of management and employees, as safety is  both management’s responsibility and that of the employees. The management on its part must provide all enablers for safe operations and ensure enforcement of the standard operational procedures, while the employees must ensure full compliance. But in reality the mind set or positive attitude towards safe practice has not been embraced whole heartedly, thus  increasingly becoming difficult to ensure that standard operational procedures are observed and complied with by all staff.

CCD: How are you managing to reduce safety challenges to the barest minimum?

NUD: As difficult as the task could be, safety practice in Kebbi Area Office has been made much easier through regular HSE sensitization, monitoring and enforcement and implementation of the corporate policy on occupational health safety and environment.

CCD: What are your plans and strategies to achieving  zero accident in the Area Office?

NUD: The key plans and strategies adopted in seeing that Kebbi Area Office has achieve zero accident is by ensuring that no work is permitted until it has all HSE standard operational procedures (i.e technical protection well ensured) and the regulation of near miss and unsafe conditions occurrence and cautioning defaulters of every unsafe act, as short cuts are always forbidden but team work has always been encouraged.

CCD: What is your advice to the fellow staff?

NUD: My humble advice to my colleagues has always remain that, safety is an attitude and is success by purpose not an accident, so we must all be determined to work safely. We expect everyone to be committed to achieving zero injury in all our workplaces and believe that a productive day is completed only when we see our customers and colleagues going home to meet their families safely.