BSU: worksite accidents are now better reported

Workers are more comfortable reporting accidents, should they occur. Photo: China Photos/Getty Images

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Worksite accidents across the UAE are better recorded today than a couple of years ago – at least according to safety watchdog Build Safe UAE.

The news follows the latest BSU ‘Shared Safety Alert’, a regular email bulletin which this week includes half a dozen grim accounts of accidents involving serious injury and death. A glance at the kind of injuries that are being reported might suggest that safety problems are getting worse, not better, but an expert says this is not the case. “In terms of the detail and the reporting of the causes of the accident, it is far clearer now” said Elias McGrath, general secretary, BSU.

“We looked at the data from some of the accidents that were reported in 2008, and now sites are much more open in communicating the incidents that occur, as well as adding more detail such as preventative measures” he said.

“Members see the importance of recording all incidents, whether a near miss, lost time incident, or a fatality. The next step is then to share that information with your stakeholders. From this, we (at BSU) can build up a picture of incidents that occur and we look at accidents that happened not just in Dubai, but all around the GCC” McGrath concluded.

Earlier this week BSU signed a memorandum of understanding with international safety organisation IOSH to agree to share safety knowledge and statistics.

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