The workshop (Occupational Safety and Health in Projects) emphasized that a certain percentage of accidents in the projects of the water distribution sector is caused by suffocation and collapse in the excavation, as many accidents can be avoided by providing reasons for safe behavior in projects.
On Wednesday, 6 February 2019, this workshop was held by Asharqia Chamber, represented by the Contracting Committee, in cooperation with the General Administration for Safety and Industrial Security of the National Water Company, and the Directorate of Civil Defense in the Region, with the aim of educating contractors on the requirements of occupational safety and health and how to work to remedy them to reach a safe work environment in the projects.
For his part, the Director General of Safety and Industrial Security of the National Water Company, Engineer Saeed bin Ahmed Al-Shihri, said that the company seeks to build a preventive approach aimed at a comprehensive and organized mechanism for joint work between the workers in the field of contracting and the company to implement safety and health procedures to preserve life and property.
He stressed the need for safety to be normal and permanent behavior in the workplace with all levels of responsibility so that safety and health at work remain our permanent goal of work.
Eng. Mohammed Bin Ali Al Zahrani (from National Water Company) talked about the work permits and their relationship to occupational safety and health and reviewed the pros and cons of using working permits, the steps of issuing work permits, types of work permits and isolation procedures.
He stressed that a safe work permit is an effective tool to help identify and control risks, avoid injuries, avoid costly mistakes, and contributes to sensitizing all employees to fully understand the reasons and requirements of authorization before starting work.
Failure to comply with authorization requirements or to disregard written procedures and instructions may expose the worker to accident and injury, legal accountability and disciplinary action.
For his part, Lieutenant Engineer Abdulaziz Al Fadhil (from the Civil Defense) talked about the weather and its impact on the work of projects such as the wind, high temperature, rain, cold and snow and so on.
He stressed that each of these conditions affects the progress of projects, which requires certain preventive and safety measures.
He said that the high temperature and humidity to the highest rates in the summer is a danger to health and requires the adoption of preventive measures and safety against heat stress and the sun blow and other health problems associated with excessive heat.
The severity of the cold may cause difficulty in work, which could lead to some of the injuries to workers due to slippage and others.
In addition, the fall of snow or cold in large quantities may increase the load on the roofs, leading to the fall of the roof; also the wind and the like.
Eng. Abdullah Bin Ahmed Shuaie (from National Water Company) spoke about the causes of occupational accidents in the water distribution sector and stated that occupational accidents are often due for two main reasons: reasons related to the working environment (unsafe working conditions), and reasons for employees (unsafe behavior or conduct).
He stressed that the occupational accidents do not occur randomly but have reasons, and all that has a reason to avoid it.
The industrial process is a joint process between the worker and the machine and the environment and any defect in one or more may lead to occupational accidents.
Engineer Salem Bin Mohammed Al-Balawi (from the National Water Company) talked about the safety plans in the projects.
He stressed the need for these plans in all areas of work in the projects.
He stressed that occupational health and safety targets and planning to achieve them include determining what must be done, knowing the resources required, the responsible for implementation, and when it will be completed, how it will be measured through indicators, identify risks, assess their potential, hazard identification, occupational health and safety risk assessment, and risk management procedures.
He also emphasized the need for plans and commitment to all material during implementation.
