Health Authority Abu Dhabi

Occupational and Environmental Health Section

&
The Safety in the Heat Programme

Darren Joubert
Occupational and Environmental Health
Public Health & Research Dept.
Health Authority Abu Dhabi

1
 OEH - Mission and Vision
Mission
To promote and protect the health and safety of
the people in the Emirate of Abu Dhabi in
workplaces and other environments, e.g. home,
school, on the roads

Vision
To reduce the burden of occupational and
environmental related diseases, injuries,
disabilities and deaths in AD Emirate to a level
ALARP.

7/7/2011 2
 OEH Section Strategy
Strategy and objectives
Increasing the quality and relevance of OEH data
and surveillance systems
Increase awareness, knowledge, skills and
capacities for OEHS issues through targeted health
promotion and awareness campaigns and
programs
Development of OEHS policies, standards,
guidelines and protocols
Support of relevant scientific applied research
Building partnerships and collaborating with all
relevant stakeholders

7/7/2011 3
 OEH Section Existing Org Chart

HAAD HQ Manager PHR

Section Head OEH

Sr. Officer OEH Sr. Officer OEH Sr. Officer OEH

(IPC)

Sr. Rg. Officer OEH

OEH
Regional
Team
Rg. Officer OEH IMR Rg. Officer OEH EMR Rg. Officer OEH
WMR

4
 HAAD OEH Target Groups
AD Community at large
Companies, students,
road users, individuals Abu
at risk, .. Dhabi
External stakeholders Emirate
Health Sector
HCFs: Hospitals, clinics, Health
centers, etc. Sector
Health care workers,
patients, visitors,
contractors
HAAD
HAAD
Management, staff,
visitors, contractors

7/7/2011 5
 Abu Key OEH Activities on Emirate level
Dhabi
Emirate
(examples)
Area 1: Data, Epidemiology & Research

Activity Status
- Scientific evaluation of TWL as a new Done, reports available
index for heat stress, to be used for
management of heat-related illness

- In-Depth Crash Investigation Started 4/2008, on track, annual

Research reports
Project (RTTSRC UAE University)

- KAPB road safety survey Done (12/2008), report available

- Fatal injury statistics Ongoing, since 2007
- Hospital-based injury surveillance Draft electronic system
system developed and pilot tested

6
Abu Dhabi
Key OEH Activities on Emirate level
Emirate
Area 2: OEHS Health Promotion, Education &
Awareness
Activity Status
Safety In The Heat program Introduced 2009, repeated
annually, to be written into new
EHSMS CoPs for 2011
Prevention of Falls and Falling Development currently underway
Objects program

OHS booklet for small and medium
companies
DRIVE SAFE SAFE LIVES Road Safety
Awareness campaign
Final draft developed looking for
sponsorship for printing and
distribution
2009 focus:
Seat belt use, speeding
2010 focus:
Childhood traffic safety, car seats

7/7/2011 7
Injury Deaths 2010, Abu Dhabi Emirate
Other
Drowning
4% Fatal Injuries, Abu Dhabi, 2010
2%
Home
4%
Road Traffic Injury (RTI)
Suicide
8% Occupational Injury
Occupational
RTI, 5%
Occupational RTI
Road Traffic Injury Suicide
Occupational Injury (RTI), 63%
14% Home

Drowning

Other

2010 2009 2008 2007

Road Traffic Injury (RTI) 350 430 422 427
= 96.3 Fatal Occupational Injuries Occupational Injury 75 82 68 66
per Year (4 year average) Occupational RTI 26 26 8 34
Suicide 42 51 66 39
Home Injury 21 57 34 10
Drowning 14 13 13 22
Other 23 21 12 23
Total 551 680 623 8621
Causes of Fatal Occupational Injuries
Abu Dhabi Emirate
Suffocation, 3% Poisoning, 0%
Fire/flame, hot Other, 4%
substance, 5% 2008-2010
Drowning, 3%
Machinery, 1%
Electricity, 4%

Falls & Falling

Objects, 50%

Road Traffic &

other transport
Cause Of Fatal Occupational Injury 2010 2009 2008
29%
Falls & Falling Objects 51 47 41
Road Traffic & other transport 29 29 12
Electricity 4 12 6
Machinery 1 6 1
Drowning/Submersion 3 4 1
Fire/flame or hot substance 5 3 2
Suffocation 3 3 3
Poisoning 0 1 1
Natural Environment (e.g. Heat 1 0 0
Stress)
Other 4 2 9
Total 101 107 9 76
 HAAD Height Aware Programme

Currently under development Proposed

launch last quarter 2011
Based on Buildsafe UAE Best practice
guidelines for working at heights (2009)and Abu
Dhabi draft EHSMS CoPs for WAH, Scaffolding,
Ladders, Barricading etc (2011)
Will be multilingual and targeted at HSE
Personnel, Supervisors and workers who work
at heights
Multi-resource including posters, pamphlets,
videos, website etc
 Non-Fatal Injury Surveillance
One of HAAD Public Healths top 10 PH priorities
To prevent and control/reduce injuries in Abu Dhabi Emirate
Why Injury Surveillance?

Enables definition of the extent and nature of the problem

(burden of disease/epidemiology)
Incidence, geographic & demographic characteristics, risk factors,
patterns/trends, PPV,

Provides rationale for support from funders/stakeholders

Provides information that facilitates development and

implementation of (public health) interventions

Injury Surveillance enables measurement of success (KPI) in

reducing/preventing injuries
Baseline and follow-up information, trends over time
July 7, 2011 11
Statistics for Prevention
 Key OEH Activities on Health Sector Level
Health
Sector (examples)

Activity Status

Health Sector EHS Management System

- EHSMS Policy and Standards (n=20) Completed and Approved

- Creation of HAAD EHSMS Unit/Center: Planning phase

- Notification and registration of HCFs Electronic registration system

currently under development

- Awareness, education and training Underway and Planned

sessions for HCF HSE staff and
management

- EHSMS audit/inspection of HCFs Planned

14
 EHSMS HAADs Roles and Responsibilities
HAAD Chairman is
member of Executive
Abu Dhabi Executive Council Council

EHS Higher Committee HAAD CEO is member of

EHS Higher Committee

Competent Authority HAAD is SRA for

(Abu Dhabi EHS Center) the Health Sector

Sector Regulatory Authorities (SRAs)

Nominated Constructio
Energy Transport Tourism Industry Health Waste
Government n
(ADWEA) (DOT) (ADTA) (ZonesCorp) (HAAD) (WMC AD)
Entities (24) (DMA)
plus other
identified
Entities Nominated Entities

Including HAAD For the Health Sector these are the

Nominated Healthcare Providers,
i.e. initially 33 Public and Private Hospitals
15
 HAAD HSE Dept. New Org Chart

DirPHP

Manager
HSE Dept.

Admin Assist.

Section Head
Section Head
Health Sector
OEH
EHSMS

Sr. Officer Sr. Officer Sr. Officer Sr. Officer Sr. Officer Sr. Auditor Sr. Lab
OEH (OH) OEH (EH) OEH (IP) HAAD EHS EHSMS EHSMS Technician

Sr. Officer Sr. Auditor Sr. Lab

Sr. Rg. EHSMS EHSMS Technician
Sr. Rg. Sr. Rg.
Officer
Officer IMR Officer EMR
WMR Sr. Auditor
EHSMS
Rg. Officer Rg. Officer EHSMS Unit
OEH Team
IMR EMR

Existing New
positions positions
N=20 positions
16
HAAD
Key OEH Activities on HAAD Level
(examples)
Activity Status
HAAD Occupational and Environmental Established and meets regularly
Health and Safety Task Force

HAAD Fire Safety and Emergency Underway (partnering with AD

Evacuation Procedures (audit, plans & Police, Fire Brigade, Civil Defense,
procedures, drills, fire marshals, exit Quick Intervention & Technical
gates, etc.) Rescue)

Internal incident and injury reporting Procedures and forms drafted, to

system be implemented

HAAD EHSMS Policy and Standards Developed and approved

Healthy HAAD initiative Supporting PHPr initiative
HAAD OEHS Management System Planned
accreditation (ISO 14001, BS OSHAS
18001)

17
 Health Authority Abu Dhabi
The Safety in the Heat Programme
Overview
From Research to Public Health Practice
Example: Heat Related Illness
Rationale
Outdoor workers in Abu Dhabi are exposed to
significant heat stress in the summer months
Lack of practical awareness among employers,
supervisors and HSE personnel of risk factors and
precautions
Resulting in heat illness, heat stroke and
sometimes fatalities
Phased Approach
Initial two year research phase
Refinement and validation of TWL heat stress
index
Development of Media and Health Promotion
materials
Based on research conducted in the UAE
Pilot phase
Full implementation across relevant industries
Final Program Evaluation (online survey) 19
Aim of the programme:

To raise awareness of the dangers of heat exposure amongst the

target groups and prevention and;

provide support and health promotion materials to raise

awareness of the issue, increase education and training

Support the EHSMS Sector Regulatory Authorities and Entities

and the Ministry of Labour summer initiatives
The programme so far.

Launched on the 20th May 2009 in collaboration with the

Ministry of Labour

Was evaluated in 2010 and some amendments to the

graphics and style were made and additional resources
added such as different language materials and Ramadan
posters

Has been re-launched for summer 2011

Is to become part of the Abu Dhabi EHSMS regulatory

framework
Target groups

Primary target audience:

Health and Safety Personnel in all Industrial sectors

Secondary target audiences:

Employers, CEOs, Business Owners, Supervisors ;

Heat exposed workers from different language groups

Large and small companies

Programme Reach in 2009

Programme Reach 2009

465 Companies, employing:
815,000 Heat-exposed
workers
4,500 worksites
1,800 labor residences
Health Promotion Materials
Distributed
> 600 Mailings to employers
13,000 Posters
36,000 Illustrated pamphlets
27,000 Supervisors pamphlets
640 Technical information packs
Procedure & Training Manual
Technical information sheets
CD and awareness Video (DVD)
100 Roll-Up banners
92 Branded coolers
Web-site
23
Reduction in Heat Illness - examples

Company Percentage decrease Rate 2008 vs. 2009

A 79.5% decrease in 15.3 vs. 1.16

n = 1371 workers heat related treatment cases/1000 workers
and emergency cases over two months in
summer

B 50% reduction in 0.08 to 0.04

51 million man hours serious heat illness cases/100,000 work
worked in 2009 cases hours
What is available?

All registered companies from anywhere

can download all materials free of charge
of the website and print their own copies

All Abu Dhabi companies are able to

collect free materials from HAAD in
hardcopy

Materials includes information for HSE

professionals, supervisors and workers
including posters and pamphlets
Wide range of resources available.
TWL A new Heat Stress Index

Input
Dry Bulb/ambient
air Temperatur (C)
Wet Bulb Temp.
(humidity/evapo-
ration rate, C)
Globe Temp.
(radiant heat)
Wind speed (m/s)
Output
Thermal Work Limit
(TWL, W/m2)
= Maximum rate at
which heat can be lost
to the environment in
the given conditions
27
Measurement
Online TWL calculator
HAAD Safety in the Heat Program 2009

Am J Public Health, March 2011

30
More Information

www.haad-safe.ae

www.ar.haad-safe.ae
Company Registration Online
FREE Access to Online Resources
Other Free Resources Available
3,017+ cases of heat-related illness seen
at HCFs in Abu Dhabi Emirate, 2010

Heat Related Illness Cases

3500
3017
3000

2500
2025
2000

1500 Heat Related Illness

1000 829

500
122 88
0
HEAT HEAT STROKE HEAT PRICKLY HEAT TOTAL
EXHAUSTION SYNCOPE
Thank you