Group Managing Director of Chemstar Paints Industries Nigeria Limited (Paints & Chemicals), Adedayo Paseda, has reiterated that the company will prioritise health and safety, welfare and well-being.
He spoke while opening the the Health and Safety Week 2025 at Casso, Agbado, Lagos Head Office and Factory.
With the theme: “Health Is Wealth,” Paseda said the week, a yearly event, reaffirmed the need to prioritise the health and safety of workers, through knowledge of their health status and how to live healthy.
Paseda, who said a lot of financial resources is invested in staff health and safety needs, and in providing safety kits; boots, helmets, nose masks, among others, hinted that the management spends N20 million yearly on the HMO Health Insurance, aside other health and hospital issues that need to be attended to without waiting for HMO.
“We are concerned about promoting our staff’s health and mental health. Through this exercise every staff knows his or her health status, which will guide us in how we live and conduct our health affairs,” Paseda stated.
He described the week as “rewarding and result-oriented,” saying a large number of the staff underwent medical check-up, while those who need to do some adjustment to their diet, lifestyle, and those that need to go on medication were advised by the doctor.
The three-day event featured medical check-up, health talk, investment talk, fire safety lecture and fire drills by officials of Lagos State Fire and Rescue Service, led by Chief Fire Officer, Mrs Johnson Funmilayo, and Deputy Director of Training, Babajide Adepoju.
Paseda noted that the fire lecture and drills are an important component of the week, to avail staff the opportunity to acquire knowledge and skills of firefighting, as well as to avoid anything that could lead to fire outbreak or accident.
He said: “As a company, we are concerned about the welfare, well-being and safety of our staff, particularly the state of their health just as we have as the theme for this year – Health Is Wealth.
“Health is not only wealth, but peace of mind, strength, and joy. And, we must do our best, as a management, to keep our health, and that is the lesson of the safety week. It is not all about what we are providing, but also to lay a culture and consciousness of good health in the minds of our staff that health is paramount.”
On overall staff productivity, Paseda, who insisted that the Chemstar Paints Industries Nigeria Limited would continue to prioritise workers’ safety, pointed out that the exercise has gone a long way in improving and enhancing the productivity of the company.
Part of this, according to him, is because “we have a record of less absenteeism by workers as hospital and sickness issues are reduced, and since there is knowledge about people’s health there are usually good results and improvement in productivity.
He, therefore, advised members of staff to be conscious at all time of their health since the safety and state of their health is not about them alone, but also for their families and loved ones.