The Corps Marshal of the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC), Mr. Dauda Biu has commended Dangote Industries Limited (DIL) for the adoption and implementation of safety standards in the Road Transport Safety Standardisation Scheme (RTSSS) in the company’s operations.

Mr. Biu, who stated this in Abuja when he hosted a team from the Dangote Cement Plc, Transport Division, said the significant reduction in crashes  was made possible through the collaboration with his agency and the implementation of some mutually agreed safety standards by the company. The Dangote team was led by the Divisional Director of Transport, Mr. Ajay Singh.

The commendation is an outcome of several strategies executed by the company to ensure Dangote truck drivers adhere strictly to safety standards as prescribed by the FRSC across the country.

The Road Safety boss said: “Notable among this is the reduction of road traffic crashes involving Dangote Transport Trucks through the implementation of minimum safety standards in the Road Transport Safety Standardisation Scheme (RTSSS).”

According to Biu, in order to effectively achieve this success, the FRSC collaborated with the Technical Committee comprising the Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON), the National Automotive Design and Development Council (NADDC), and the Nigeria Society of Engineers (NSE) on speed limiting device implementation in Nigeria.

He said the establishment of an Outpost at Dangote Cement Plant Obajana, has contributed tremendously to the reduction of road traffic crashes along the ever-busy Obajana – Kabba road in Kogi State.

Other areas of collaboration with the company, he said, include the establishment of standard and functional driving schools, collaboration in conducting professional Road Assessments (Road Safety Audit) for issues of safety concerns on the roads, as well as a partnership on the Dangote Drivers’ Training Centre (Driving Range).  

Speaking on various efforts by the company geared towards the reduction of accidents involving Dangote Trucks, Dangote Cement Group Head, Transport, Health, Safety & Environment Nigeria & Pan Africa, Mrs. Ebere  Okonkwo stated that the company adopted several strategies to ensure compliance with Nigeria road safety standards.

She listed the strategies to include: Improvement of drivers’ and journey managers’ competence in both HSE and job skills in order to achieve line ownership of safety and safe delivery.

According to Mrs. Okonkwo, “Plans were put in place to improve our maintenance management. Actions were developed to improve and embed an effective journey management system with a focus on supervision. We introduced compliance monitoring and reporting such as performing check-ins on drivers while on trips, random alcohol, and drugs tests, etc.”

“We increased the sphere of influence by showcasing visibly-felt safety leadership at the frontlines through engagements, campaigns, general empowerment to stop unsafe work, behaviours etc. Consequence management (reward and sanctions); reward for compliance and sanctions for non-compliance was also introduced and behaviours monitored based on criteria, to determine who gets rewarded as a result of safety performance and who gets sanctioned,” she added.

Okonkwo noted that the HSE team embarked on HSSE competence development training for all staff across categories to improve their competence on safety and their influence/supervision skills to the frontline workers (drivers).

She said internal behavioral-based safety trainings, safety stand-downs to cascade learnings from internal and industry incidents, safety campaigns covering different prevailing risk areas, pep talks by “HSE teams and transport trainers across locations, engagement of shop floor workers by various categories of management e.t.c. were carried out.

She added that: “The FRSC carries out recertification training exercise for our drivers, operations staff, and trucks in Nigeria every six months. Across our Pan Africa locations, engagements, and competence development trainings are deployed internally and externally based on risks using our experienced and well-recognised internal resources and approved government resources. Where available, simulators are used for defensive driving trainings; for example in Cameroon, the training is facilitated by the Safe Way, Right Way Foundation etc.”

Speaking earlier, Divisional Director Transport, Dangote Cement Plant, Obajana, Mr. Ajay Singh said the collaboration between the Dangote Group and the FRSC was paying off. He, on behalf of the company, also congratulated the Corps Marshal for his elevation and appointment.