The Roles of Engineers in

Infrastructural Disaster
Management in Nigeria
A TECHNICAL PAPER
DELIVERED BY
Samson Olakunle OJOAWO, MNSE, FNICE, COREN Regd., Ph.D
Professor of Civil Engineering, Ladoke Akintola University of Technology Ogbomoso
Chairman, The Nigerian Society of Engineers, Ogbomoso Branch
@ the MAY 2024 MONTHLY GENERAL MEETING &
TECHNICAL SESSION OF OYO STATE NIGERIAN
INSTITUTION OF SAFETY ENGINEERS Saturday May 25, 2024
Table of contents
01 02
Introduction Pre-Disaster

03 04
During Disaster Post Disaster

05 _
Conclusion _
01
Introduction
 Background note
• Nigeria is a vast country exposed to various natural
hazards, including floods, droughts, landslides,
windstorms, and earthquakes.
• These hazards can cause significant damage to
infrastructure, leading to loss of life, displacement, and
economic disruption.

• Nigeria's diverse geography makes it vulnerable to a

wide range of natural disasters. It's crucial to consider
these hazards during the planning, design,
construction, operation, and maintenance of
infrastructure projects to ensure their resilience.
Infrastructural Disaster
Management
Infrastructure disaster management is the practice
of managing networked infrastructure systems to
reduce the impact of natural and technological
disasters. The goal is to ensure the safety of
people and occupants, and to minimize
disruptions to essential services like energy,
water, transportation and communication.

Roles of Safety Engineers in Ensuring the

Safety snd Resilience of Infrastructure.
• Risk Assessment
• Ensuring Compliance
• Design Review
• Inspection and Testing
• Training
• Incident Investigation
Nigeria is ranked 130th out
of 141 countries, with an
infrastructural score of
39.7 from a scale of 1 to 100
– Global Competitiveness
Report 2019
The Nigeria’s Key Infrastructures
● Building structures/mass housing
● Transportation or Road
● Rail lines
● Aviation
● Electrical powerlines
● Information and Communications
Technology
Infrastructures cont’d
● Oil and Gas lines
● Water Resources
● Agricultural
● Waste management
● Culture and Tourism
● Sports
● Health Care
● Emergency Response etc
02
Pre-Disaster
SAFETY ENGINEERS CONTRIBUTE TO DISASTER
MANAGEMENT THROUGH VARIOUS ACTIVITIES:
01 Hazard identification and risk assessment

02 Design of safe and resilient infrastructure

systems

03 Construction safety oversight

04 Hazard identification and risk

assessment plans

05 Post-disaster evaluation and recovery

Risk Assessment
Site Analysis and
Inspection
Safety Engineers conduct
thorough site inspections and
analyses to identify physical
and environmental hazards
that could impact
infrastructure.
Risk Assessment
Tools and Techniques
Safety Engineers use
specialized tools and
methodologies, such as
hazard identification (HAZID)
studies, fault tree analysis
(FMEA), to evaluate potential
risks and vulnerability.
Historical Data and
Trend Analysis
Reviewing historical data, past
incident reports, and trend
analysis helps Safety
Engineers to anticipate and
identify recurring hazards and
vulnerabilities in similar
infrastructure projects.
Mitigation measures
Roles of Safety Engineers in
Developing Mitigation
Strategies
• Designing safety measures
• Developing emergency
response plans
• Hazard identification and Risk
Assessment
• Implementation of safety
protocols
• Continuous monitoring
improvement
• Regulatory compliance
• Collaboration with stakeholders
Construction Safety

Accident Prevention Regulatory Compliance

Safety protocols help prevent accidents by Following established safety protocols ensures
establishing clear guidelines for safe working compliance with legal and regulatory
practices, reducing the risk of injuries and fatalities requirements, avoiding potential fines and legal
on construction sites. issues.

Structural Integrity Efficiency and Productivity

Adhering to safety protocols ensures that Well-defined safety protocols streamline
construction process meet quality standardsm operations by minimizing disruptions caused by
preventing structural failures and ensuring the accidents, leading to more efficient project
long-term stability and safety of the infrastructure. completion and reduced downtime.
03
During Disaster
Roles of Safety Engineers
in Emergency Response
1. Damage Assessment
2. Search and rescue support
3. Mitigating secondary hazards
4. Recovery planning
5. Resource allocation
6. Safety protocol implementation
7. Environmental hazard identification
8. Communication and reporting
9. Public safety advisories
HAZARD IDENTIFICATION & RISK ASSESSMENT
Safety engineers work with other stakeholders to:

03
02
Develop
01 Assess the strategies to
Identify potential likelihood and mitigate or
natural and man- severity of these eliminate risks.
made hazards that hazards.
could impact
infrastructure
projects.
Roles of Engineers in Public Safety Measures

Evaluation Planning Public Education and Training

Safety engineers design and develop They conduct public education campaigns and
comprehensive evacuation plans, identifying safe training sessions to inform communities about
routes and procedures to ensure efficient and safety measures, evacuation procedures, and
oderly evacuations during emergencies. sheltering options.

Sheltering Protocols Coordination with Authorities

They establish protocols for emergency shelters, Safety engineers collaborate with local authorities
including location selection, capacity planning, and and emergency services to integrate public safety
ensuring facilities meet safety standards to protect measures into broader emergency plans, ensuring
displaced individuals. cohesive and effective responses.
04
Post-Disaster
Infrastructure Inspection
and Repair
• Safety engineeers conduct detailed inspections
to assess structural damage and potential
hazards, ensuring infrastructure safety and
determining the exrtent of necessary repairs.
• They develop and oversee repair plans,
priorotizing critical infrastructure, ensuring
adherence to safey standards, and
implementinuous monitoring for long-term
stability.

Disaster Recovery Planning

Safety engineers play a crucial role in
disaster recovery planning by integrating
safety considerations into long-term
infrastructure development plans, ensuring
the rebuilt structures are resilient and meet
mordern safety standards.
THE SPECIFIC ROLES OF
ENGINEERS IN
INFRASTRUCTURAL
DISASTER MANAGEMENT
1. DESIGN FOR RESILENCE
Safety engineers incorporate disaster resilience into
infrastructure design by:

Considering the
loads and forces
1 imposed by different
hazards.

Selecting appropriate
DESIGN FOR 2 materials and
RESILIENCE construction
methods.

3 Designing for
redundancy and
fail-safe
mechanisms.
2. INSTITUTE EMERGENCY RESPONSE PLANS
Safety engineers contribute to emergency
response planning by:

Identifying Developing Coordinating

potential evacuation with
emergency and rescue emergency
scenarios. procedures. response
agencies.
3. ENSURING POST-DISASTER EVALUATION &
RECOVERY Safety engineers play a key role in post-disaster recovery
by:
Assessing the Identifying
damage to hazards
infrastructure. caused by the
0 0 disaster.
1 2

Contributing to the
development of
0
3 reconstruction
plans.
Conclusion
▪ Safety engineers play a vital role
throughout the infrastructural disaster
management cycle, from pre-disaster
mitigation to post-disaster recovery.

▪ Their expertise in risk assessment,

construction safety, emergency
response, and infrastructural repair is
crucial for ensuring the safety and
resilience of Nigeria’s infrastructure.
 01 02
By integrating safety I encourage all
considerations stakeholders to actively
throughout the involve safety
infrastructure lifecycle, engineers in infrastructure
we can significantly projects to create a safer
reduce the impact of and more disaster-resistant
disasters on our nation. Nigeria.
 ● OJOAWO, SAMSON OLAKUNLE, FNSE, FNIEE, FNICE
PROFESSOR OF CIVIL ENGINEERING

+234 803 391 6833

soojoawo@lautech.edu.ng

Talk Material credits/Power-point slides preparation:

@ James Kola Ojoawo & Samuel Ayo Otolorin

THANK YOU FOR

LISTENING! 26