Dubai Municipality has launched its Construction and Occupational Safety Week, organised as part of the first Municipalities Month.

The event is being held under the banner "Safety: Our Road to Sustainability” at City Hall.

A week-long exhibition of photographs illustrating the significance of safety at construction sites is also being held at the municipality headquarters to mark the occasion.

"We have enacted a set of legislation including local orders, technical guidelines and codes with the objective of ensuring safety of some 800,000 labourers who working in around 8,000 construction sites in and around Dubai,” said Hussain Nasser Lootah, director general of Dubai Municipality.

“More recently, a code of construction safety practice has been issued by adding several new measures aimed at protecting the workers and all people involved," he added.

He said that the municipal inspectors made some 27,232 inspection visits during the day time to construction sites last year while 1771 inspections were carried out during night.

These inspections indicated a 75 per cent compliance from the contracting firms. However, 2508 fines were issued against the construction safety code violators.

Lootah emphasised on the civic body's keenness in enhancing occupational safety in the emirate by strictly enforcing the prevailing rules and regulations.

Redha Salman, director of Public Health and Safety Department, said the municipal inspectors carry out random checks at other places such as hotels, industrial establishments, toy shops and other public places to ensure safety of the public. – TradeArabia News Service