Politically speaking, the electricity industry is a high-risk environment where practitioners and visitors who are exposed to high tension materials are expected to observe safety practices and make use of standard personal protective equipment (PPEs) while carrying out their official duties or visiting.

There are statutory requirements to follow while working on electric power equipment to ensure that the occurrences of accidents are eliminated or reduced to the barest minimum and the government agency responsible to carry out the enforcement of technical standards and regulations, technical inspection, testing and certification of electrical installations in Nigeria is the Nigerian Electricity Management Services (NEMSA).

PPEs that are expected to be used during periods of work include reflective jackets, safety boots, hand gloves, safety belts, standard ladders, hard hats, standardized uniforms etc.

In observing safety practices in the power sector value-chain and taking into account records of accidents, the GENCOs and transmission seem to be on the right track while the DISCOs still have rooms for improvement.

As the group at the end of the power sector value-chain ladder, the DISCOs have been observed to engage in certain practices, like using motorcycles and minibuses to carry ladders and workers that flout regulatory requirements of not using PPEs at places of work.

There was an instant when a worker used his bare hands to climb a high tension concrete pole to fix a fault and in several cases, they approach feeder pillars, distribution transformers and other workplaces without approved PPEs.

In order to be safety compliant, NEMSA should ensure that those rendering power supply services to Nigerians are made to purchase and provide necessary PPEs to their workers and to observe safety practices at points of work.

Finally, DISCOs should develop similar work ethics as the GENCOs and transmission do by training their workers to put on their PPEs and use approved forms and tags to ensure that the equipment they want to work on are safe before they approach them.

If PPEs are provided and safety practices observed, the rising rate of workplace accidents will drop, if not completely eliminated.