UAE leads recipients of DuPont 2011 Safety Award

DuPont named five companies from Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA) – including two from the United Arab Emirates – as the recipients of its 10^th Annual DuPont Safety Awards. The winners were recognized for their outstanding initiatives towards workplace safety enhancements and incident prevention in the EMEA region.

An independent jury representing respected European occupational health and safety organisations chose the winners for the award’s five categories. The 2011 recipients are Anglo American for Visible Management Commitment; Cemex UK Operations for Innovative Approach; Egypt Basic Industries Corporation for Cultural Evolution; and the UAE’s very own Dutco Balfour Beatty LLC for Sustainable Business Impact and Emirates Aluminium for Performance Improvement.

The award ceremony took place in Istanbul, Turkey in conjunction with the XIX World Congress on Safety and Health at Work, the prestigious triennial international forum co-organized by the International Labour Organization, the International Social Security Association and the Turkish Ministry of Labour and Social Security. DuPont is a premium sponsor of and active participant in the event this year.

“While accidents and injuries in the workplace have remained startlingly common in countries experiencing rapid industrialization, such as the Gulf countries, it is especially notable that two winners and two finalists hail from the region,” stated Johan van der Westhuyzen, Regional Director, DuPont Sustainable Solutions – Turkey, Middle East and North Africa.  “Each of these companies is a positive example of how businesses that embrace safety are able to reap the benefits of increased worker morale and an improved bottom line.”

Winners of the DuPont Safety Awards also testify to the importance of safety as a driver for business performance. 

“We are very pleased that our hard work and commitment to improve our safety performance has led us to win a DuPont Safety Award”, said Mr. Steven van der Vyver, Health, Safety, Environment and Quality Manager at Dutco Balfour Beatty LLC. “We believe that our improved safety performance has allowed us to become a more sustainable company, and proven to other companies in the region that investing in safety truly pays off.”

A similar sentiment was expressed by Mr. Saleh Abdulla Al-Abdulla, Environment, Health & Safety Senior Manager of Emirates Aluminium: “Our company has gone above and beyond to embed safety into all aspects of our business. This has allowed us to achieve an extraordinary feat: an average of one lost time injury for every 11 million man hours worked. We are proud that our efforts have led us to be named as a winner of a DuPont Safety Award.”

“We are very pleased to recognize these companies for their achievements, their commitment to safety excellence and their concern for the welfare of their employees. Like DuPont, they believe that safety is good business, that employees work harder in safe environments, and that all workers deserve to go home safely at the end of the day,” concluded Mr. Van der Westhuyzen.