UAE | Health
Dubai to launch new health and safety guidelines
New occupational health and safety standards, in line with international criteria and best practices, are to be expected soon, said a senior ministry of labour official.
- By Wafa Issa, Staff Reporter
- Published: 23:33 December 15, 2008
Dubai: New occupational health and safety standards, in line with international criteria and best practices, are to be expected soon, said a senior ministry of labour official.
Yousuf Abdul Gani, executive director for strategies and policies affairs, speaking on behalf on Saqr Gobash, Minister of Labour, said during the fourth edition of the International Risk Management conference, that the ministry is preparing new occupational health and safety standards to create a healthy work environment which protects workers.
"The Ministry will shoulder its constitutional responsibilities, guarantee the supremacy of the law and seek to implement international standards therefore we intend to prepare a whole set of new occupational health and safety standards," said Gani adding that new standards will be tailored to make a balance between economic growth and creating healthy work environment.
The proposed standards will be submitted to concerned authorities to be approved.
However no deadline was given for when the new standards will be ready for review.
Accidents
There are approximately 270 million occupational accidents and 160 million cases of occupational disease worldwide, according to statistics from the International Labour Organisation.
In 2007, Dubai alone recorded 249 accidents in construction sites - 47.8 per cent of which involved labourers falling from heights.
From 2004-2007 the emirate recorded a total of 865 accidents.
Other types of accidents included collapses at work sites weighing in at 23 per cent; crane and other machinery accidents, 14 per cent; and incidents involving fires and electric shocks, at seven per cent for the same period.
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