Policy matters

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Safety culture firmly on the Middle East map.

Crucial to a policy is that it should provide a way of tracking performance. "You need to have clearly defined lead indicators; you need to have clearly laid-out reporting, open and honest reporting," says Legg.

"You also need to have good audit programmes in place, because there are a lot of roles and responsibilities within the system and you need to know that you're doing them.

And when things fail, such as damage to people or buildings, or near-misses, you need to have a good investigation programme in place and modify your practices if you need to."

Reaping the benefits

HSE policies help companies build reputations and protect their assets. As the region starts to make its mark on the global stage, companies are now looking to improve their reputations worldwide. "Clients generally are becoming more aware that they want to engage responsible contractors, and an organisation that has a well set-out policy would be the first thing to look for," says Legg.

Good policies also tend to mean a company produces better quality work. "Health and safety are joined at the hip," says Grahame McCaig, Buildsafe UAE chairman. "If someone is producing quality work, they've probably got a good health and safety system."

A strong commitment to health and safety can also result in finding new ways of working that are more cost-effective. Pozniak cites the example of use of concrete in construction. "In this region we do a lot of membrane covering on concrete. That's because we don't want the water or corrosion to deteriorate it at a fast rate. That process means that workers will be handling different chemicals," she says.

The process of curing a membrane can take up to two weeks. However, some concrete products do not require a membrane. As a result, workers using the product will not need to handle potentially harmful chemicals, reducing the overall risk on the project. Furthermore, the elimination of the membrane creation process means that construction time can be substantially reduced.

Good health and safety also improves a company's bottom line through protecting equipment. Incidents on sites can not only harm people; if equipment is damaged as a result of an accident, it can cost a substantial amount to replace, and the lag time created by sourcing new equipment will also have a negative economic impact, causing delays on site.

"If we look at the global total loss control approach, you have a safe sustainable business because you're preventing loss of process. If an incident happens that takes out an expensive piece of equipment, that affects your bottom line," says Pozniak.

Nevertheless, simply having a solid policy isn't enough. "If companies think just having a policy will make them better, they'll be sorely mistaken," says Legg. He adds that while a policy helps define a way of working, workers in all levels of the business need to be included to create a ‘safety culture'.

According to experts, a safety culture is now firmly on the map in the Gulf, and good HSE policies are set to become a vital business tool in the region. "There has definitely been an increase of interest, as well as engagement, in HSE issues in the last three years," says Pozniak. "A lot of the organisations are recognising the benefits to a good health and safety policy and programme."

Any business that wants to stay competitive in the current market conditions would do well to start reviewing their policies and procedures - protecting not only the physical health and safety of their staff, but also the economic health and safety of the company as a whole.

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