Assessing the Impact of Sustainable Development in NRCRI With Regards To Environmental Aspects: Health and Safety With Regards To the Engineering Departments and Field Farm Workers

In recent times, there has been an increase in the rate of pollution of our environment and this is evident as shown in rapid climate change, ozone layer depletion, toxic pollution, depletion of non renewable resources, acidification and eutrofication of our soils and water. With all these environmental challenges, there is still increase in population and more mouths to feed. If these effects are not controlled or reduced, it means that before long, there will be an increase in the extinction of species, scarcity of fresh water and possibly more extreme weather conditions and loss of agricultural production and biodiversity, As a foremost research institute, we have goals and mandates to meet with regards to roots and tuber crops and achieving these set goals and mandates will promote sustainable agricultural development in our country. On the other hand, these mandates can only be achieved by our human workforce if they work under a safe and protected environment. Therefore, it is very important that we make sure that our work does not in any way affect our employees or add to the jeopardy of the environment because it is the workforce that will see to it that our mandates are achieved under sustainable development. In a country like Nigeria, it is naturally believed that Health, Safety and Environment is only synonymous with the oil and gas sector, big construction companies, engineering and manufacturing firms. As a research institute in the Agricultural sector, we carry out research work that involves our employees working in different laboratories where the work with different types of chemicals and organisms that are hazardous to health, we have field operations in the farms where our employees work with hand held tools and are exposed to different harsh weather conditions, engineering sector, wielding units as well as kitchen departments and other various units.