Abu Dhabi: A new system announced by an Abu Dhabi government body yesterday makes it clear that occupational safety is not restricted to a few high-risk sectors where hazardous materials or working at construction of high-rises are involved.
“Occupational safety comes into play where any operation poses any sort of risk to the operator or to the public,” a senior official told Gulf News.
Apart from workers at high-rises or those who deal with hazardous materials, occupational safety is very important for many other sectors such as food handling, medical, transport and even education, said Dr. Jaber Al Jaberi, Deputy Secretary General of the Environment Agency – Abu Dhabi (EAD), Acting Director of the Abu Dhabi Environment, Health and Safety Centre (AD EHS Centre).
He spoke to Gulf News yesterday on the sidelines of a ceremony to announce a mandatory registration system for all entities in the emirate with the Abu Dhabi Emirate Environment, Health and Safety [EHS] Management System managed by the AD EHS Centre. The new mandatory registration will prompt all entities to develop their own EHS management system to address occupational safety.
The registration system titled “Qudorat” [meaning capability] aims to develop the qualifications and level of competency of establishments and individuals working in occupational health and safety and other workplaces of relevant fields.
Majid Al Mansouri, Chairman of the Department of Municipal Affairs and Chairman of the EHS Higher Committee, who launched the system at the ceremony, said the Abu Dhabi Government has been continuously supporting efforts to ensure safe work places.
Dr Jaber Al Jaberi introduced the system in the presence of nearly 160 representatives from private and government sector entities.
Al Jaberi added that Qudorat comprises two main electronic applications, the first of which is for the registration of EHS Professional Entities (companies/establishments) working in the EHS fields, while the second is for the registration of EHS Practitioners (individuals) working in these fields. He also added that registration of individuals and establishments will commence in phases and will be specified by the centre.
He told Gulf News that 38 out of around 50 government organisations have registered with the system. “We aim to register about 15,000 private entities by the end of next year.”
He said the entities in the sectors such as industry, transport, energy, health, construction, tourism , waste management, education and food handling have to register with the system gradually.
The Qudorat registration system is based on administrative review and verification of the information and documentation submitted by the applicants. The AD EHS Centre has provided guidelines to clarify the process of registration in the relevant fields and these are available at this link: http://registration.oshad.ae
Abu Dhabi Government established the AD EHS Centre in February 2010for the purpose of overseeing and monitoring the implementation of the Abu Dhabi Emirate Environment, Health and Safety Management System as well as managing occupational health and safety issues.
The EHSMS is based on the concept of risk assessment and performance management by working with various government entities responsible for sectors such as: industry, transport, energy, health, construction, tourism and waste. The centre also aims to ensure integration of requirements across the sector and to build capacities in the EHS field.
