EGA initiates SafeStart programme for enhanced workplace safety in UAE

EGA or Emirates Global Aluminium, which is the biggest industrial company in the United Arab Emirates, aside from oil and gas, recently announced that it would be introducing the SafeStart programme to the region. This behavioural safety programme aims to help the company achieve its goal of zero harm and an enhanced workplace atmosphere.

EGA's safety performance is already better than the industry average, but the company is determined to eliminate the risk of serious harm in its operation by the end of the decade. To achieve this, EGA is focusing on improving all four factors of safety, including technical solutions, organisational safety management systems, authentic safety leadership, and human behaviour.

SafeStart oversees the humane anomalies in safety by targeting states of mind that contribute to accidents, such as rushing, frustration, fatigue, and complacency. By recognising these states of mind and avoiding four critical errors, EGA's employees will be able to stay safe both at work and in their personal lives.

Abdulnasser Bin Kalban, the Chief Executive Officer of Emirates Global Aluminium, commented: "Our goal of eliminating the risk of harm is essential and very ambitious for any industrial company. To achieve it, we must focus on further improving all aspects of safety. Each of us at EGA is responsible for our own safety and the safety of everyone around us. This programme will enable us to recognise states-of-mind which all human beings are prone to, which can lead to someone getting hurt."

The Founder of SafeStart, Larry Wilson, during a tour of EGA in Dubai commemorating the launch, exclaimed: "EGA is a safety leader in the global aluminium industry, and I am pleased to bring SafeStart to the Middle East to support their goal to improve safety even further. In our lives, most of us have experienced accidents, and all of us have had many near misses. Recognising our own states of mind that contribute to these unfortunate events is one key to preventing them, including at work."

SafeStart has already been implemented by over 3,500 companies in more than 60 countries. EGA promotes behavioural safety events that enhance the company's safety quotient. Before this, we came across EGA's Beat the Heat initiative, which educated fellow workers about the early signs of heat-induced diseases. The programme has been live for over a decade and runs smoothly, with EGA recording no heat-related incidents in the compound during the intense Dubai summers.