NAN-H-74
Conference
By Desmond Ejibas
Port Harcourt, Nov. 16, 2016 (NAN) The Port Harcourt Electricity Distribution Company (PHED) is organising a conference to seek ways of reducing the high rate of electrocution in the country.
Mr John Onyi, the Head, Corporate Communications, PHED, made this known in a statement issued in Port Harcourt on Wednesday.
The statement quoted the Chief Executive Officer of PHED, Mr Jay McCoskey, as saying that the conference, scheduled to hold on Dec. 1 in Port Harcourt, would seek to reduce the number of electrocution.
According to him, the conference will expose participants to international best practices with focus on public safety campaigns and quality control of electricity installations.
”About 120 people in the country die by electrocution in the country annually and a similar number sustain life threatening injuries from contact with electric appliances,” he said.
He warned the public against erecting buildings and facilities under power lines and urged them to avoid encroachment on power installations locations.
“Vandalism, energy theft and illegal connections are also factors that cause public fatalities in the network.
“Host communities of generation and transmission facilities need also be alerted on the risk of encroachment on power lines,” he said.
McCoskey explained that the conference with the theme “Reducing the Alarming Trend in Staff and Public Fatality in the Nigerian Power Sector” would be the second edition to be held in Port Harcourt.
He explained that the conference would bring together players in the electricity industry across the country to tackle several health, safety and environment challenges in the sector.
“Key resource persons in the Nigerian Power and Energy sectors have been earmarked to make presentations at the event on a wide range of challenges in the sector,” he said. (NAN)
DES/JEO/NKO
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Edited by Jane-Frances Oraka/Nkechi Okoronkwo
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