Business & Money | Tuesday 24 December, 2019 11:05 am |

The Industrial Development Bureau (IDB) of the Abu Dhabi Department of Economic Development (ADDED) successfully conducted two workshops focused on safety and security maintenance and providing quick response when serious accidents occur. The first workshop included the launching of a new guidebook designed to educate workers on safety and security procedures covering loading and unloading activities within private ports. Meanwhile, the second workshop dwelled on how to deal and avoid the occurrence of serious accidents in industrial facilities. 

 

H.E. Mohammed Munif Al Mansouri, Executive Director, IDB, explained that the first workshop, which was held in cooperation with Abu Dhabi Ports and other strategic partners, falls in line with ADDED's commitment to create and adopt key guidelines and best practices to be followed by the local industrial sector, including safety and security standards covering economic and industrial activities in the emirate. 

 

Al Mansouri shared that the newly launched guidebook features important technical information about the safe operation of unloading and loading activities in non-oil commercial ports. The book aims at promoting the adoption of security and safety standards to help reduce the occurrence of accidents in these facilities. The workshop was attended by representatives of 14 industrial facilities, in addition to a representative of the Abu Dhabi Ports, IDB’s strategic partner. 

 

He said that the guidebook includes safety procedures in managing activities in the ports during the general handling and storage of goods as well as ports’ security guidelines. Al Mansouri revealed that an electronic version of the guidebook will also be made available soon on the IDB website and will also be distributed to companies listed in the bureau’s industrial facilities database.

 

Capt. Maktoum Al Houqani, Chief Corporate Authority Officer, Abu Dhabi Ports, said, “As a global port operator, we are committed to achieving excellence in the safety and security operations in Abu Dhabi. Our collaboration with the IDB in preparing the new guidebook for licensing and operation of non-oil commercial ports is another proof on the culture of leadership that we continue to promote across Abu Dhabi’s ports, while also encouraging making their services faster, easier, more profitable and safer.”

 

He added that the non-oil commercial ports across Abu Dhabi are subject to the operators’ licensing system, which is applied under the authority of Abu Dhabi Ports, the entity in charge of issuing the proper licences. All industrial and commercial facilities that design, build and operate commercial non-oil ports must obtain an operator’s licence from the Abu Dhabi Ports and should comply with the terms and conditions of these ports’ operations.

 

Meanwhile, the second workshop conducted by the IDB covered how to address and prevent serious hand, finger and wrist accidents within industrial facilities. The workshop falls in line with the move to improve the industrial sector's levels of compliance with the Abu Dhabi Occupational Safety and Health System and as part of the IDB's role as an authorized entity by the Abu Dhabi Public Health Centre to monitor the application of the System in the industrial sector. The workshop was attended by representatives of more than 100 industrial facilities. 

 

During the workshop, speakers from the IDB and the Abu Dhabi Public Health Centre presented key statistics on recorded accidents from 2014 to 2018--strongly indicating that hand and arm accidents constitute approximately 50 per cent of the total accidents that occur in Abu Dhabi’s industrial sector. Some of the more common serious accidents listed were injuries or deep cuts in the fingers, as a result of using machinery in the workplace. These statistics further showed that the most vulnerable to this type of accidents are male workers between 25 to 34 years old.

 

On the sidelines of the workshop, a panel discussion was also held, which featured the participation of representatives from the IDB, the Abu Dhabi Public Health Centre, and one of the international expertise houses specialized in the field of safety and risk management, in addition to representatives of two industrial facilities operating in the emirate.

 

Eng. Nabeel Saleh Al Awlaqi, Director of Health, Safety and Environment (HSE), IDB, presented a review on why these accidents occur, including wrong handling of equipment, which leads to serious injuries in hands, fingers and wrists. 

 

He pointed out that the panel’s participants presented the right methods for practicing these work activities and the ways to monitor them. They further highlighted the role of supervisory bodies in the industrial facilities in spreading awareness among workers to prevent such dangerous accidents. The panel also showcased some practical experiences through which the level of professional performance in manual activities has been improved, which in turn, resulted in enhanced production operations.

 

Al Awlaqi emphasized that ADDED’s IDB aims to raise awareness among industrial facilities about the right practices of various industrial and professional activities through the holding of these types of specialized awareness-raising workshops, which that can help reduce injuries among workers and improve the industrial facilities’ safety and security standards in Abu Dhabi-- enhancing their productivity and saving lives and properties.