Construction Workers Death in the UAE

The United Arab Emirates thriving economy is greatly supported by the construction industry. Construction in the UAE is in continuous growth as the demand on buildings such as hotels, towers and skyscrapers are on the rise. While the country is vertically expanding, construction workers are faced with a list of challenges concerning their safety and well-being. On top of that list, is the risk of falling.

The numbers of fatalities and injuries within construction sites in the UAE have been fluctuating throughout the previous years. According to recent studies, approximately half of all construction site accidents in the country are a consequence of falling. The reason this is so, could be attributed to many factors, mainly, the poor implementation of workplace safety guidelines and procedures.

In January 2012 and in just 24 hours, a worker in Abu Dhabi met his fate after falling from the 12^th floor. While in Dubai, two workers died due to scaffolding. After investigations, it was concluded that those men working in poor weather conditions, which clearly indicates the carelessness of the employer. In another case, two window cleaners died when their maintenance cradle failed after four hours of hanging. Investigations showed that the cradles were not periodically inspected, although cradle manufacturers state that their equipment should be inspected on quarterly basis.

UAE Health and Safety statistics (sample 2008-2009)
	2008	2009
Number of projects	388	479
People working on-site	296,093	276,323
Man-hours worked	872,485,818	887,072,131
Lost-time incidents	690	530
Fatalities	20	10
Lost-time incident rate	0.0791	0.0597
Fatality frequency rate	0.0023	0.0011
Source: Build Safe UAE

The HAAD Height Aware Program is a program initiated by the Health Authority of Abu Dhabi, aiming to provide free resources to employers and employees to raise awareness of the dangers affiliated with working at heights. Abu Dhabi Environment, Health and Safety Center, a local regulatory body established by the Executive Council of Abu Dhabi with the collaboration and guidance of OSHA (Occupational Safety and Health Administration), has defined a set of standards and regulations to ensure the safety of construction workers through minimizing and preventing hazards in construction sites.

The United Arab Emirates has shown great efforts in its pursuit of hazard prevention. Nevertheless, the UAE lacks a federal authority that monitors and regulates workplace health and safety. Once a federal organization is initiated and nationwide legislations are established, the UAE will be on its path to a safer and more productive workforce.