UAE companies work hard to keep employees healthy

Businesses in the UAE say employee health and safety is a 24-hour commitment for them.

Last week, the UAE joined several countries around the world to officially recognise April 28 as Workers' Memorial Day, an International Day of Action for Safety and Health at Work. The global event aims to promote safe and healthy work environment for all, which is an essential part of the world strategy launched by the International Labour Organisation.

In line with the move, Emirates Business spoke to manufacturers and doctors in the UAE, who said the work environment in offices and industries has changed over the time and poses increased health and safety risks.

Listing out the risks involved in manufacturing yachts, Erwin Bamps, Executive Manager, Gulf Craft Group, told this newspaper: "For us, safety at work is a continuous concern, 24 hours a day, seven days a week, and we tend to rather celebrate breaking the record of our longest accident-free operation at one stretch.

"This is because, yacht making is less a production line process and resembles rather a building construction process. With painting preparation, interior fitting, electrical and plumbing work and exterior fitting going on all at the same time, a close co-ordination between all departments is elementary."

The risks yacht workers face are, dust hazards from the sanding preparation for the external paint process; in the lamination department, workers deal with a chemical process where release of hazardous gasses like styrene has traditionally been a concern; and furniture painters are exposed to paint fumes.

Steel fabrication, with heavy machinery and heavy semi-finished items, is a major area of concern, as is people tripping over items or hitting something because of the congested spaces during the peak times of work.

Construction and paint manufacturing are other industries, which have to tackle health and safety risks.

Dr John R Bera, head of orthopaedics department, RAK Hospital said: "The construction sector has undergone a sea change in the last few years – from low rise to sky-scrappers, and a greatly accelerated pace."

According to Dr Bera, the major risks faced by onsite workers in the construction sector are heat exhaustion and dehydration. Also, working for long hours continuously, lifting heavy weights and standing for long periods of time prove to be hazardous for the neck, spine and the back, resulting in spondylitis, lower back pain, disc prolapse among others health hazards.

Potential risks that workers face include poly trauma due to falls, multiple fractures and in extreme cases, loss of life. Those involved with designing or carpentry also face risks such as shoulder-hand syndrome, carpal tunnel syndrome, cervical spondylitis and interscaplar fibromyositis.

Enumerating risks faced by people in the paint manufacturing industry, Ken Gudvangen, Operations Manager, Jotun Paints, said: "There are several health and occupational risks related to paint production. Exposure to solvents and hazardous dry chemicals is a big risk. In addition, there is the hazard of noise pollution and danger of injury from the rotating and moving machines."

And if you thought that sitting in an office and working on your computer was safe, then think again. According to Dr Bera, the boom in the IT sector has lead to a wide array of medical conditions ranging from physical to mental stress.

He said: "Depression, mood-swings, back and neck pain are some of the most common conditions noticed as people tend to work irregularly for long hours and come back to a lifestyle which is sedentary and unregulated. The pressures on the body and the mind are tremendous. Apart from the physical problems, the mental risks employees face range from depression to crankiness due to irregular lifestyle and stress of modern living."

But its not just the IT people facing the brunt, other office-goers are equally at risk.

Dr Margit Oremek, Medical Director and Consultant Internal Medicine, Cardiology, RAK Hospital said: "These days, because of the intense competition in the workplace, people work for longer hours. They come to office early and leave late. People sit for long hours continously, resulting in problems such as lower back pain, varicose veins and obesity.

"The working environment (chairs, lights, desk, computer and screen position) are in most cases not adapted to offer an ergonomic work place. There is rise in stress at work due to telephones and e-mails and even unpleasant conflicts and tensions with other people. Large offices without space for privacy, exposure to noise, and non-functioning technical equipment, are all causes that lead to added stress in the offices."

According to Dr Oremek, these and other factors lead to problems such as lack

of time to recover after a long day's work, sleeping disorders, loss of communication skills as people usually deal with machines, depression, stress, hypertension, heart and cardiovascular diseases, muscle and skeletal disorders, lower back pain, eye problems, obesity and diabetes.

So how are industries and offices minimising occupational risks in the country?

Bamps from Gulf Craft said: "We have a large and extensive list of safety and health procedures in place, which is carefully monitored by a team of safety inspectors. This is on top of the supervisory and quality assurance staff in the factory. They inspect and ensure that the workers wear safety gear at all times and adhere to company procedures.

"As for the sanding and dust hazards, we use a sealed-off, pressurised tent concept that we build around the yacht to minimise dust and fresh air is circulated inside the tent to make working conditions for the staff there as comfortable as possible."

During lamination, the company uses vacuum bagging and resin infusion techniques as they drastically reduce emission of hazardous gasses.

Talking about their safety procedures Gudvangen from Jotun Paints, said: "Jotun has an internal health, safety and environment standard that takes care of safety and occupational health. This HSE standard is implemented in all factories around the world and as a part of this, Jotun UAE has implemented a series of procedures and practices to protect our factory workers. The practices include work procedure for transporting finished goods, solvent reclaimer operating procedure, accident prevention measures and raw material handling.

"We are now in the implementation of OHSAS 18001, which is an international occupational health and safety management system specification, and we will be certified before the end of the year."

Talking about the way health risks and injuries associated with construction can be minimised, Dr Bera said: "Teams should take a short break to do some stretching exercises and relax their muscles. Periodic health check-ups and screenings should be conducted. Apart from this a good training on safety and first aid must be given to everyone."

But isn't anything being done to prevent health hazards and risks emerging for people who work in offices?

Dr Oremek said: "Every day, we learn new ways of improving our work environment and implementing ways to maintain a healthy lifestyle, in and outside of the workplace.

"More and more offices around the world are considering a lifestyle that is in a way 'species appropriate' and takes care of the basic need of every human being such as the right to have healthy food without time pressure to eat, so there is no pressure on working during lunch breaks. Also, humans have the right to communicate with each other and share experiences and feelings. So more offices these days stress on teamwork as it helps lower stress and tension, which otherwise cause depression, hypertension and heart diseases.

"Workplaces must be equipped with appropriate chairs, desk and computers, minimising the risk of a bad back and other health hazards and a lot of workstations these days are being ergonomically designed. Also, they are managing workload properly."

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