Workers told to report use of unsafe practices

In the event that anyone on a construction site witnesses a dangerous or unsafe practice, Build Safe UAE (BSU) recommended that the employee immediately instructs the workers to stop.

"Contact the supervisor. If this fails, report the matter to the Ministry of Labour or your local regulatory authority who will assist in resolving the matter," it said in its weekly alert (93).

BSU is a not-for-profit organisation aimed at improving the health, safety and welfare conditions of all construction industry stakeholders through the free exchange and sharing of information. It consists of 70 major (international and local) members from the UAE construction industry and its open distribution list of alerts covers around 7,100 registered individuals.

The recommendation was sent due to a photograph sent to the body, which demonstrated that the acceptable health and safety standards were not being adhered to with particular regard to working at heights. The most common and the single biggest cause of workplace fatalities and major injury on construction sites in the UAE remains falls from height. "The picture shows that the required safe systems of work are missing with no fall or edge protection in place. Workers in the photo are not wearing the required personal protective equipment on site such as harnesses.

Working at height continues to challenge our industry and this example is a clear breach of regulation by an unsafe construction stakeholder. These actions are illegal, unacceptable and discourage our efforts to promote a safer UAE," urged the alert. "As long as this sort of practice continues, we will struggle to improve the safety culture of the construction industry in this region. More must be done to reduce and eliminate 'falls from height'. Members of Build Safe UAE are proud to support the improvement of safety standards throughout the UAE. Every business in the UAE?must comply with the UAE Federal Labour Law, which outlines the legal duties of an employer. If you are a business owner, employer, manager or supervisor you have the legal responsibility to ensure your workers do not suffer injuries or illnesses by hazards exposed at your workplace."

Meanwhile, an unfortunate incident resulted in the fatality of an employee who worked as a welder. "While the crane operator was in the process of retracting the outriggers and repositioning the crane, the crane reversed unexpectedly crushing the welder who was standing in between the pipeline and the crane. Sadly, emergency services could not revive him and pronounced him dead," noted the alert. "Please review this incident with all crane operators, riggers, banksmen and heavy good vehicle driver and communicate this incident through morning tool box meetings."

In new instances of best pratices, Al Futtaim Carillion (AFC) noted that one of the major environmental impacts on a construction site is noise pollution. "This is due to the operation of equipment such as generators, cutting and drilling devices. Excessive noise is not only annoying and distracting, but can lead to hearing loss, high blood pressure, sleep disturbance and extreme stress. This aspect can be minimised by placing the noisy equipments away from the workplace as much as possible," said the alert. So at its The Lofts project site, AFC placed the air compressor away from the activity area to significantly reduce the noise pollution.

On April 28, Dutco Balfour Beatty (DBB) commemorated "International Worker's Day" to honour the memory of workers who have lost their lives due to work related injuries or occupational diseases. Quoting statistics released by the International Labour Organisation (ILO), DBB General Manager, Grahame McCaig reminded employees that one worker dies every 15 seconds worldwide and 6,000 workers die everyday as a result of work related accidents and diseases. "This is more than the number of persons killed during a war," he said.

Meanwhile, IJM-LFE JV senior management and subcontractor workers recently celebrated two million man hours without LTI on the Reem Island Hotel Development project in Abu Dhabi. The project deputy directors and project managers issued tee-shirts and KFC meals to all workers and staff on behalf of the company as a way of expressing their appreciation for the safe working performance demonstrated by all workers over this period.

Again, Oger Abu Dhabi held an abrasive wheel safety training, which was conducted by its the OAD HSE department. "Safe handling and proper storage of the equipment was taught in the programme. The main purpose of this training was to develop and enhance the knowledge and skills of the operatives working with this equipment on site to prevent any incident and injury."

Also Rapid Rental and Sales announced that it offers training and certification to IPAF (International Powered Access Federation) standards to all clients. "The training courses are designed to ensure that your employees are fully aware of the legislation, operation and safe use of mobile elevating platforms. The operator courses are one day duration and the license issued after successful completion is internationally recognised and valid for a period of 5 years," it said.

Follow Emirates 24|7 on Google News.