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In the absence of a government body like the UK’s Health and Safety Executive companies in the UAE have formed a partnership to share information on health and safety risks and best practices. In operation since October 2007 Build Safe UAE (BSU), as the partnership is known, now has 88 membership organisations from all phases of the construction supply chain including master developers, contractors and subcontractors.Bovis Lend Lease initiated the group, following success with similar initiatives in other centres such as New York. The formation of the group reflects awareness amongst companies here that poor health and safety is both a costly risk to their business and a welfare issue for workers. Under the tag line “There is no intellectual property in health and safety” the initiative has 4 key work streams underway: 

• Shared safety alerts – members submit information about health and safety incidents in their businesses and these are shared on a weekly basis with all members. These alerts detail what the issue was and what measures should be put in place to prevent it. The safety alerts have been on topics such as ‘Safeguards against fires and explosions during construction’, ‘Amputation due to miscommunication’ and ‘Kitchen burn injury’.
• Best practice alerts – again these are shared by members of the initiative, but focus on sharing good practice that prevents H&S issues. Topics have included: ‘Communicating alerts effectively’, ‘The Don’t Walk by Campaign’ and the ‘30 minute bin it – housekeeping campaign’.
• Database of statistics – driven by a lack of reliable data from other sources, 16 of the main contractors of BSU now submit their accident information to the database on a weekly basis. There is a full set of data for the year 2008 which shows interesting trends in accidents and lost time injuries.
• Focus Groups – working groups which develop best practice guidance for members on key H&S issues such as falls from height and labour camp accommodation.

Information about all of the above can be found on the BSU website, along with useful reference information and tools such as H&S legislation, safety posters and risk assessments for key machinery/processes in construction. In the spirit of sharing and free access, anyone can sign up to the website to review this information.

With a general absence in the UAE of capacity building partnerships to tackle labour standards issues, Impactt applauds the work of BSU. While there is surely more work to be done inside member companies in terms of addressing health and safety issues, at least they have publicly committed to taking steps to do so and are working together to achieve a common goal.  

The challenge to the initiative is to spread its reach further and recruit those companies who have not yet understood the business benefits of good health and safety. Graeme Mc Caig, Chairman of BSU (and General Manager of Dutco Balfour Beatty) is a firm believer and champion of this case: “By implementing an effective H&S management system in your business, you will make more money… When you invest in H&S you will get a return”.

Currently BSU does not engage directly with workers and relies upon a top down approach for communicating the shared safety and best practice alerts. To ensure the full extent of its good work is being realised, BSU should consider involving workers in the initiative and harnessing their knowledge. Our experience from other industries shows that workers have some of the best and most cost effective ideas for tackling health and safety issues!