By JONAH NWOKPOKU

Workers of the Nigerian Railway Corporation, NRC have called on the federal government to adopt and implement globally acceptable standard in container safety across intermodal transport chain in Nigeria.

President General of the Nigeria Union of Railway Workers, NUR, Comrade Raphael Okoro made the call while speaking at the commemoration of the International Transport Federation, ITF Container Safety Action Day held at the Railway headquarters in Lagos.

Okoro who expressed concern at the lack of safety of workers and other people that come in contact with containers in their transportation from one destination to another, said, “The federal government needs to start discussions to confirm its support for the ITF position on container safety; endorse and take practical steps to implement the global recommendations by the International Labour Organisation, International Maritime Organisation, and United Nations Economic Commission for Europe on container safety and adopt the provisions of the ILO/IMO/UNECE Code of Practice on Packing of Cargo Transport Units into national legislation.

“Nigeria needs also to adopt national ‘chain of responsibility’ regulations which extend the general responsibility and legal liability to ensure that the container is safe along the transport chain which includes the consignors, packers, loaders and most importantly the clients, rather than pursuing the truck or the loco drivers and operators.”

According to him, it has become very necessary for Nigeria as a signatory to the conventions of International Labour Organizationto to adopt the regulations of relevant international regulatory bodies so as to improve safety standards around container packing and transportation in Nigeria.

“As a Union, our major concern is the huge potential risk faced by the workers and members of the public who come in contact with the containers along their movement from one destination to another. Incorrect packing of dangerous goods has the potential to cause leakages, fires and explosions. In this case, the drivers of the conveyors of the containers and other road users are at great risk due to overloaded containers or shifting cargo as a result of unstable loads, causing the vehicles to end in disaster. A container filled with scrap material, for instance, can present a serious danger to those required to inspect or unload it,” he said.

He added: “In Nigeria and just as it happens around the world, we have had instances where the actual weight of the container exceeds the safe working load. This can damage cranes mid-air leaving the container to crash down on workers. Similarly, poor load distribution in a container or overweight can cause derailment to the train while false declaration of weight and contents of a container can bring about uneven loading which certainly will have adverse impact on the vehicle carrying the container.