DUBAL hosts second annual safety awards

In pursuit of its corporate vision “to be one of the best companies in the global primary aluminium industry in production, markets, people and results by 2020”, Dubai Aluminium (“DUBAL”) — the entirely state-owned corporation whose Jebel Ali operation is the world’s largest single-site primary aluminium smelter using pre-baked anode technology – strives continually for excellence in every area. This is reflected in an on-going quest to achieve ‘zero harm to people and the environment’, which is embodied in the corporation-wide habit of placing the safety of employees first and foremost in all aspects of the business, without compromise. This same quest underscores the DUBAL Safety Awards, held annually to celebrate the corporation’s achievements to date, recognize and reward the achievers so as to motivate the employees, sustain the record performances, and set new targets. Specific recognition is given to those departments, teams and contractors that play a significant role in improving safety behaviour and thus DUBAL’s overall safety performance. In this regard, the winners of the second round of the DUBAL Safety Awards were awarded for their achievements in 2012 at a gala dinner held at World Trade Centre, Dubai on Monday 1 April 2013, attended by approximately 1,000 guests and employees. Reiterating his often-stated stance on safety, namely that DUBAL is not in the business of hurting people, Abdulla Kalban (President & CEO) advises that DUBAL made good progress towards its ‘zero harm’ goal in 2012. “The total recordable injury frequency rate at our Jebel Ali site, measured per million man-hours, was 3.26. This was a continuation of the declining trend of recent years – we achieved 4.21 in 2010 and 3.64 in 2011 – and is more than 75 per cent lower than the 13.2 reported in 2004,” he says. “Moreover, our lost time injury frequency rate of 0.22 in 2012 represents a 90 per cent decline on the 2.31 achieved in 2004. While these measures confirm that we’re working safer, any injury is one too many. We can never be complacent about safety but instead must continually give priority attention to it.” Each year, the DUBAL Safety Awards are presented in several categories, and on this occasion comprised the DUBAL Team Safety Awards; Most Active and Safe Employee Awards; DUBAL Milestone Awards; Most Improved Area awards; and EHS Representative Awards. The gala dinner and award ceremony represent the culmination of a detailed process involving nominations for the awards in the various categories, short-listing of entries, and adjudication by a panel of judges – with this year’s Team Awards being evaluated by an external panel comprising representatives from Emirates Aluminium (“EMAL”), SNC Lavalin, McDermot, HSE Council, ENOC and Alex Construction. The evaluation criteria include both leading and lagging indicators.