Against the backdrop of fire outbreaks in some Nigerian markets, the Industrial Section of the Alaba International Market (AIM) Lagos State, on Friday organised a workshop on fire prevention for traders in the area.
The programme, facilitated by Safety First Global, distributors of fire hardware, focused on fire prevention, handling of fire extinguisher and how to react in case of fire outbreaks.
Mr Nelson Ubalaka, the resource person at the event, said that market shops should be built in accordance with the national fire safety code.
According to him, the management of markets should ensure that only certified structural engineers that are conversant with safety codes are commissioned to erect shops.
“In some fire outbreaks in markets, bringing in fire fighting equipment becomes difficult because of the way and manner the market shops and stalls are erected”.
He said that there were different kinds of fire extinguishers, but the one suitable for market areas was the oxygen type.
The safety expert, who demonstrated an ideal fire extinguisher-handling style in the event of an outbreak, told the traders not to panic during fire prevention operations.
He said that panicking could make them to take wrong steps that could lead to delay in fire-fighting operation and lead to colossal losses.
The Chairman of the training session, Mr Azubuike Mba, said that the session was essential, going by the recurrence of fire outbreaks in markets.
He said that the training had equipped traders to be able to take the right actions when handling fire incidents.
Mba said that more of such training would prevent loss of lives and property to fire in the market.(NAN)