Emirates Aluminium (Emal) recently won a Health and Safety award from the Gulf Aluminium Council (GAC) for its industry-leading record of 10 million work hours without a lost time incident (LTI).

Emal’s environmental, health and safety (EHS) leaders programme involves embedding EHS into the everyday work ethic at the Al Taweelah smelter, a statement from the company said. The company instigated the role of EHS representative into every department on every work shift.

For the year 2010 to 2011, 41 employees were selected and assigned to the roles. They received coaching and development, had their performance assessed and met regularly to share ideas and recommend improvements to the work environment.

In 2011, the scheme was expanded with additional 59 new EHS representatives. So far 110 (4.6 per cent of the total workforce) employees have been representatives, the statement said.

Saeed Fadhel Al Mazrooei, president and CEO of Emal, said: “Emal has put the health and safety of its workforce at the heart of all it does. Initiatives such as EHS Leaders are helping Emal to set standards for safety in the industry.”

“As a result of the EHS Leaders initiative Emal will continue to build a robust of health and safety culture throughout the company and provide a future legacy. It is very gratifying that this effort has been recognised by our peers in the regional aluminium industry,” he concluded. – TradeArabia News Service