Overview
The Grassroots Safety Development Initiative (GSDI) is a project from Institute of Safety Professionals of Nigeria (ISPON) Rivers State Branch to drive safety improvement beyond the workplace.
Over the years, every effort on safety development has been channeled mainly to the industrial sector to protect workers and assets against hazardous exposures.
While this has continued to pay off as various organizations continue to drive improvement in their safety performance, the safety culture within the larger public is not a thing to be proud of.
This is evident in the number of accidents observed in recent times from domestic, commercial and other public activities.
Unfortunately, majority of these accidents go unreported. For example, a fatal accident occurred in Eliozu community in February 2022 where three young people were killed by a perimeter fence that collapsed during a regular community football match. This was hardly noticed, let alone investigated.

Click here to download full details.

Aim and Objectives of the GSDI

The aim of the project is to promote safety development to the grassroots in Rivers State.
Objectives
1. To provide safety education and orientation to the general public, strategically covering the young and elderly population in Rivers State.
2. To drastically reduce the rate of accidents from domestic, commercial and other public activities in the State.
3. To promote safety development in the universities, polytechnic, colleges of education and other higher institutions of learning.
4. To support small and medium scale establishments in providing basic safety training for their team.
5. To train first responders (for fire and first aid) who will be able to take the right actions and decisions at the critical times of emergencies.
6. To improve emergency services in Rivers State.

Targets

Our short term targets for the initiative between May 1, 2022 and April 30, 2025 (Phase one) include:
1. To provide safety education and orientation for at least, 500,000 people in Rivers State.
2. To provide fire blankets for 10,000 people in the State.
3. To empower 200 safety ambassadors across the various local governments and high institutions.

To become a sponsor, email to riversbranch@ispon.gov.ng or click here to download the sponsorship letter.