Facilities Managers Sacked After Hospital Elevator Death in Nigeria

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• Facilities Managers Sacked After Hospital Elevator Death in Nigeria

08 August 2023

Facilities managers at a hospital in Nigeria have been “sacked and blacklisted" after a house officer died in an elevator crash.

Dr Vwaere Diaso, a house officer working at the General Hospital, Odan, Lagos Island, died after an elevator accident in her hospital residence on Tuesday, 1 August 2023.

According to a statement by the Permanent Secretary of the Lagos State Government’s Ministry of Information and Strategy, the lift in question was newly installed in 2021.

As a result of the incident, facilities managers working at the hospital have been sacked, and outsourced installation and maintenance contractor's information was handed to the police. The General Manager of the Lagos State Infrastructure and Asset Management Agency has also been suspended.

FM Services Managed by The Lagos State Infrastructure and Asset Management Agency

The Lagos State Government outsources the management of the House Officers Quarters, where Dr Diaso died, to an outside FM company. The Lagos State Infrastructure and Asset Management Agency (formerly the Office of the Facility Management and Maintenance) manages that contract.

As part of the panel set up to determine the causes of the incident, initial elevator inspections have been carried out, removing the elevator for further mechanical examination to rule out a negligence case with the elevator installer. The Lagos Safety Commission has been directed to immediately carry out an audit of all elevators in public offices.

The President of the International Facility Management Association (IFMA) Nigeria chapter, Mr Lekan Akinwunmi, told The Nigerian Tribune that there should be a standard maintenance framework for all the functions of all facilities in buildings, including lifts and elevators. He also suggested that the lift must have shown “signs of distress which the management of the hospital ignored.”

Picture: a photograph of a hospital corridor. Image Credit: Unsplash

Article written by Ella Tansley | Published 08 August 2023

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