Safety and quality at all costs is the main focus of all operations within National Projects and Construction (NPC), a leading UAE construction conglomerate based in Abu Dhabi. The company recently conducted an extensive fire and emergency evacuation training within their site at Reem Island involving 563 personnel including subcontractors. The safety drill which was held in coordination with the Abu Dhabi Civil Defense Authority also had participation from Tamouh, the master developer of Reem Island. The speedy response during the evacuation procedure underlined the entire team’s preparedness for emergency situations.
The safety exercise is in line with the increasing awareness to enhance safety procedures across construction sites in the UAE, an initiative that is taking on greater importance in 2009. NPC conducted the safety drill under the supervision of their Environmental Health Safety (EHS) Manager Mr Ghazi Yousef. A dedicated team is deputed for each project to take charge of safety related issues on site in co-ordination with another EHS Manager Max Guarneri.
“NPC is known for timely delivery and accurate budget projections on its various projects many of which are counted among UAE's landmarks. Being an ISO-certified company, safety within the work place and environmental awareness are the basis of all our construction activities. We firmly believe that safety is critical to a well run construction site and to the health and well being of the staff operating within. However, construction site safety does not happen on its own, it is an ongoing commitment that requires active participation from all concerned parties. During the present safety drill, we were able to conduct a complete and effective evacuation within just ten minutes,” said Mr Salem Al Neyadi Chairman of NPC.
As a large firm working within a major project such as Reem Island, NPC faces a number of challenges to ensure the success of their safety initiatives. With the tower projects, special guidelines are in place with regards to working on heights, erecting and operating cranes at different wind speeds as well as combating natural calamities. Other safety issues of priority include fire risk controls, and concreting procedures of high rise buildings during night time.
“We have been frequently conducting in-house safety training programmes for workers as well as the staff at all our projects. We also intend to execute more such initiatives in our projects in the future. All the safety measures are being implemented in accordance with International Safety Standards and in coordination with Government departments,” added Mr Paul Majoor General Manager of NPC.
NPC has a number of projects on Reem Island including four towers in Zone A, three buildings in Zone D, also known as Marina square which is being master-developed by Tamouh. The company has also been retained by Reem Developers, for the infrastructure in the Najmat area of the Island, including two canal bridges.
