Abu Dhabi: Nearly 4,000 inspections were conducted in 2014 by the Ministry of Labour to assess adherence to occupational safety standards, compared with just a handful of checks in 2010.

This trend represents a tremendous growth in the focus on workers’ health and safety in the UAE, a top environmental, health and safety consultant said in the capital today (October 26).

But newer challenges continue to present themselves, especially as cities develop and their industrial areas grow in size and variety, David Bass, managing director of health and safety consultancy, Ubique EHS Management Solutions, told Gulf News.

“One of the biggest occupational safety challenges at present is the way industrial areas are structured and located. Many of these were located on the outskirts of cities like Abu Dhabi and Dubai, but as these cities have grown, the industrial areas have become surrounded by residential neighbourhoods, posing a threat to both workers and residents,” Bass explained.

Bass was speaking on the sidelines of the BOHS Worker Health Protection Conference, which kicked off in the capital yesterday (October 25).

Industrial safety has been an area of concern in the UAE, with major fires occurring in recent years at various locations across the country. Earlier this year, in one of the worst such tragedies, a fire at a tyre shop in Abu Dhabi’s Musaffah industrial area killed 11 workers and injured about seven others. This summer, at least 14 industrial buildings have been gutted in Sharjah’s industrial areas, and two burning warehouses in Dubai created thick black clouds in Dubai’s Umm Ramool area in August.

“While government authorities have increased their scrutiny of industrial standards, companies need to be much more vigilant as well. For example, they must choose locations so that their industrial procedures don’t pose risks when conducted beside the surrounding factories. Chemicals in use must also be stored safely, and workers must be housed at a distance from factories in safely built accommodations,” Bass said.

As an environment, health and safety consultant, Bass has worked with the UAE Ministry of Labour for a number of years. He testified to the greater understanding and awareness of workplace safety among labour inspectors.

“The ministry has more than 60 inspectors, including a number of women, and they receive regular training on how to conduct more rigorous checks into worker and environment health and safety. In fact, many of them are now working on becoming specialists in either construction, industrial or worker accommodation safety,” Bass said.

The five-day conference also saw experts discuss the safety challenges posed by the UAE’s high temperatures.

Dr Farrukh Qureshi, head of environment and health at Ab Dhabi’s natural gas producing company, Gasco, pointed out that many companies still do the bare minimum without paying real attention to workers’ health.

“The law calls for companies to shelter outdoor workers from the heat during their breaks. But of six shelters constructed by various contractors in 2012, we found that only one helped workers cool down to their optimal body temperatures. The other five structures actually provided no relief from the heat,” Dr Qureshi said.

“These companies are still seen to be complying with the law as they provide the mandated shelters but, in reality, they are not taking care of their workers,” he added.

The professional therefore called for employers to prioritise workers, stressing that injuries and fatalities actually present much greater costs than ensuring safety.