Worksite safety is a shared responsibility

Construction firms and the authorities need to continue to work together to make sure the message gets through

The incidence of eye injuries sustained by construction workers in the UAE is alarming. As The National reports today, eye surgeon Dr Khaled Abu Haleeqa, from Abu Dhabi’s Mafraq Hospital, is treating at least three labourers a week, while Dr Khaliq Raza Khan at Dubai’s Al Sanaya Medical Clinic is seeing two or three workers with eye injuries every day. Their patients include workers with horrific injuries, including nails lodged in their eyes. Even those with lesser injuries can find themselves blinded or otherwise incapacitated. And the great tragedy is that most of these accidents are preventable.

The rate of injury remains high despite the introduction of strict health and safety regulations in recent years. Inspectors regularly make snap inspections at building sites, and they are empowered to order changes or impose penalties where there are safety breaches – including fines of up to Dh50,000. Enforceable rules also include a compulsory break during the hottest hours of summer days to prevent heat stroke, and regulations about the overloading of forklifts and other vehicles, the stability of cranes and ladders and the strength of construction platforms and scaffolding.

Inspectors also ensure that workers wear the right clothing, including helmets, steel-capped boots and safety harnesses where needed. For eye protection, workers operating certain equipment are required to wear safety goggles. However, it would seem that this stipulation has been ignored by many of the patients who seek medical help. Clearly, there is an urgent need to ensure that all construction workers, and those in other industries prone to accidents, know the rules and obey them.

One problem in the UAE is that many labourers come to this country with little or no experience in the construction industry and without spoken or written Arabic or English, making communication difficult. Safety posters are now being produced in other languages, along with signs that use cartoon figures to illustrate proper precautions. However, as Dr Khan told The National, it appears that some workers “do not believe in safety until it is too late”.

Construction companies and the authorities need to continue to work together to make sure the message gets through, and above all, site workers must look out for themselves and each other. One thing that is better than a gleaming new tower is a gleaming new tower that was built without a serious injury or death.