Eliminating the risk of serious harm
At Emirates Global Aluminium, we always put safety first. We care for our people and our neighbours.The only acceptable target is zero harm.
Safety is everyone’s responsibility at EGA. All our employees and contractors are able to identify and suggest methods to improve safety and have access to ways to raise safety concerns. As part of our core policy, we emphasise that anyone and everyone at EGA has the authority to refuse or stop any activity perceived to be unsafe.
Our bold aspiration at EGA is to eliminate the risk of life-altering and life-threatening injuries and illnesses in our processes and operations, while fostering mental wellbeing. We are focused on all four factors of safety to achieve this challenging ambition – organisational, human, technical and authentic leadership.
In 2022, we announced an even bolder aspiration, to eliminate the risk of any harm. We made progress, and in 2024 in the UAE we achieved our lowest ever Total Recordable Injury Frequency Rate, which is a measure of all incidents including those not requiring time off work. However, there were still serious incidents at EGA. We recognised that making truly meaningful progress required a clear focus on eliminating the risk of serious harm.
We are making progress towards eliminating the risk of serious harm by focusing on four critical factors:
‘Beat the Heat’
Heat-related illness is a particularly significant hazard in the Gulf to people working outside in the summer. With climate change, it is becoming an increasing concern around the world. If left untreated, heat-related illness can even be fatal. EGA’s industrial processes cannot be switched off, meaning we work around the clock every day of the year.
We have focused on preventing heat-related illness for decades. In 2024, we achieved our goal of zero cases all summer.
EGA’s ‘Beat the Heat’ programme is an intense, summer-long effort every year. We conduct hydration tests before and during shifts.
All employees working outside are trained in the early signs of heat-related illness and are empowered to act for themselves and others.
We run a hydration testing programme to ensure employees are fit for work both, before and during, their shifts.
We have cooling booths, drinking stations, icemakers, and portable air conditioning units in our production areas to help employees stay cool.
Our team members take regular breaks, and a lot of cooling showers. UV protection and heat rash prevention creams help keep people comfortable, and we have reusable water bottles and access to electrolyte drinks.
When an employee returns from vacation, they must go through an acclimatisation period, where they perform light then medium duty before returning to regular work.
We investigate new technologies to make our ‘Beat the Heat’ programme even more effective, such as wearable devices to detect the early signs of heat-related illness before individuals even feel anything.
