Kaduna Electric yesterday revealed that it was already put in place necessary measures to ensure operational safety even before the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) announced last week that it would sanction any electricity distribution company in the country which fails to meet the basic safety standards.

Kaduna Electric’s Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, Engr. Garba Haruna, in a statement signed by Head, Corporate Communications, Mr. Abdulaziz Abdullahi, added that the company was not among those to be sanctioned as its safety performance was far above average.

Haruna stressed the importance of full compliance with industry standard operations procedures and safety measures to ensure accident-free working environment.

The statement, a copy of which was made available to News Express in Kaduna, reads in part: “The company shall continue to keep the staff abreast with all safety requirements and enhance its safety compliance level with NERC regulations. The Managing Director has directed all staff of Kaduna Electric to always ensure full compliance with standard operations procedures and necessary safety measures before, during and after all operations as any violation shall be visited with appropriate sanction.

“The Management attaches high premium on the safety of the lives of its workers and the general public and shall not hesitate to apply the necessary sanction on any staff found to be deviating.”

Engr. Haruna appealed to the general public to desist from erecting structures under power lines to avoid unnecessary accident apart from the manifest danger of electrocution, warning that those high voltage power lines emit electro-magnetic pulse that constitute serious health hazard to those that engages in the practice.

Meanwhile, the Acting Head, Health, Safety and Environment of the company, Mr. John Adamu, revealed that the intensive enlightenment programmes embarked upon this year by the company has yielded positive results as the accident rate has dropped drastically to five when compared to 13 cases recorded within the same period last year.