Lagos State Government has through State Safety Commission, read the riot act to petroleum marketers who flout safety regulations.

The riot act became imperative because government has consistently carried out safety sensitisation and advocacy in a bid to ensure the requisite awareness about safety in the downstream sector.

According to the commissions Director-General, Hakeem Dickson, who gave warning, the sanctions will be meted out to erring drivers and operators.

Dickson, who stated this during a two-day maiden edition of Lagos State Petroleum Marketers Safety Conference twenty-eighteen in Victorial Island, decried the recklessness of Petrol Tanker Drivers who flout safety regulations, thus endangering the lives of the people.

He said the Conference would be beneficial to stakeholders in the sector, especially the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria and urged them to further train their drivers about safety because of the sensitivity of the substance they transport.

In his welcome address, Chief Executive Officer of JBendeb Symlar Associates, joint organisers of the Conference, James Ashokeji commended the government for being proactive in convening the event which, he said had been planned early in the year before the unfortunate Tanker Explosion which occurred on the Otedola Bridge in June.

Ashokeji said the Conference was a step in the right direction to save Citizens from accidents and deaths due to explosions, saying it is in line with the government’s vision to ensure a safe and sustainable quality of life.

Also speaking at the event was the Chairman, House of Representatives Committee on Petroleum Resources Downstream, Joseph Akinlaja who spoke on implementing safety management systems.

He said safety management systems are part of a business operation through which an organisation proactively manages safety that concentrates on controlling business processes starting from the scope, policies, objectives, organisational structure, organisational safety culture, training, communication to hazard investigation.

At the plenary session, salient issues bordering on tank farm loading terminal operations in Lagos, the implications of HSE training in retail station management among others were discussed.