Energy is an important tool for any nation’s development. It is with this in mind that FEWA, Federal Electricity & Water Authority was established. This paper is basically a report of a trip to the Ras Al Khaimah Plant to acquaint ourselves with the health, safety and environment policies at the site. Several sources are used in this paper to examine the measures put in place to curb disaster and the laws that are set by the government. FEWA was started in 1999 as a body responsible for the generation and distribution of electrify and water in the north of the United Arab Emirates. It operates six power generating plants which it fully owns the water desalination plants; this is from the 2012 report on the Ras Al Kaimah project titled, The Report: Ras Al Kaimah 2012. Since the energy generation is a dangerous undertaking, it is important to formulate laws and regulations that would govern the process (Al Khaimah 12). This is what prompted the formulation of HSE, Health, Safety and Environment policies, to protect the public, the workers and the environment for the future generations.
These policies are executed by the health, safety and environmental systems department of health. Some of the concerns addressed by the specific policy statement being put in place by the government seek to safeguard the health of employees and minimize accidents at the plants. This is done by engaging strategies such as providing the workers with safety equipments that are suitable for the work being done, rewarding and penalizing firms that do not comply to the safety standards, and training the staff on safety precaution measures and disaster mitigation procedures. They have also laid down clear steps to report and investigate any accidents that may occur. Power generating companies are required to ensure that their employees undergo a regular medical check-up to ensure that they are fit to work.
The second policy process that has been effective in tackling calamities is the enactment of the emergency and crisis management plans. This has been made possible by having policies such as setting strong measures for evacuation during emergencies, through engaging other stakeholders in the industry. Another effective way has been providing clear visible signboards for evacuation, and conducting evacuation drills during crisis. First aid skills have been identified as a must have for all employees. Employees undergo training on life saving techniques and handling of fire extinguishers in case of fires.
There have been endeavors to control risks and reduce their effects on people and their property. This is mainly done by assessing the risk factors in various work stations, carrying out job risk valuations, and having rules to ensure safety is maintained. Conducting the risk assessment once is not enough. There has to be repeated review of the safety standards in all the stations. The fire fighting equipment is tried recurrently and repaired frequently. Preserving the environment is one of the policies that have been fronted by the HSE. This strategy seeks to mitigate the effect of energy production and human activity to the environment, by controlling the amount and types of emissions to the environment released by production companies, by assessing the results of FEWA’s activities, managing industrial waste and checking the quality of water produced and distributed.
Fire extinguishing or suppression systems’ main purpose is to hurriedly detect a fire, extinguish emerging fires and raise an alarm to inhabitants to evacuate before extensive damage is caused. This is done by filling the protected area with a fire extinguishing agent for the automatic systems. The manual fire suppression systems include the hand held fire extinguishers, which require human intervention for putting out a fire. They must have clearly labeled instructions on how to operate them. On the other hand, automatic fire extinguishers regulate infernos without human involvement. Examples of these are the fire sprinkler systems and the total flooding systems. All the fire extinguishing systems currently available have to meet a certain amount of requirements such as corrosion resistant, and must be designed for adverse temperatures and climates amongst others (Jones 20). The fire suppression equipment must have an inbuilt mechanism to alarm the people of emerging fires, and that it is releasing water or chemicals to manage the disaster. These systems must be inspected often, refilled when necessary and tested beforehand.
One of the most emphasized principles at FEMI is the area of occupational hygiene that recognizes the health hazards caused by environmental pollutants and their health effects on employees. There are different steps that have been taken to guard workers against these risks. Noise is one of the main pollutants produced in this power generation. To curb its effect, the workers are required to put on earmuffs or disposable earplugs while at work to protect their ears. They are also provided with face and ear protection devices such as masks and glasses when they are in areas with dangerous chemicals, or areas with splashing chemicals or harmful UV light. Overalls and hand gloves are provided to the staff to guarantee insulation against heat and injuries to their hands. Too much heat exposes workers to heat stress, heat strokes and heat rashes. To prevent personnel from the effects of excess heat, the employees are trained on the risks of the job environment and how they can adapt to it. They are also required to wear protective clothes and examine their health status continuously.
FEWA’s management plays a key role in ensuring that the health, safety and environmental policies put in place are executed. The management’s responsibility in policy development can be divided into three major functions. These are consultation, communication and engagement. The consultation duty comes into play when identifying and assessing risk factors in the workplace, recommending changes that may alter the safety of the workers, creating procedures to identify, report and address accidents, and monitoring the health and welfare of the workers and their knowledge of the safety precautions and first aid skills. Open communications between all levels of management forms the pillar for a safe place of work, alleviating against calamities.
The United Arab Emirates has enacted laws to ensure that the citizens conform to the health, safety and environmental policies that the ministry has put in place. Some of the laws that encompass these rules are in the labor laws, and include the ministerial decision number thirty two of 1982 that seeks to protect employees, and the ministerial decision of 1981 No. 4/1 that states how hazardous works should be carried out. Another law is the ministerial decision of 1982 No 37/2 that stipulates the medical standards that should be provided for the employees by the employer. The government has strict penalties for employers who mistreat their workers and also for employees who fail to adhere to the set laws. Government inspectors from the ministry of labor conduct random inspections and have the liberty to charge fines if the HSE rules are broken. After reviewing all the safety precautions put in place at the Ras Al Khaimah Plant and the entire FEWA, it is impressive what the UAE government is doing. The safety policies being continuously drafted are encouraging, since disasters are averted. Human safety at the workplace is certain, and economic development a guarantee (Ghanem, Chitram, and Rohanie 13).
Works Cited
Al Kaimah, Ras. Business report. London: Oxford Business Group, 2012. Print.
Ghanem, Waddah, Chitram, Lutchman, and Rohanie Maharaj. Safety Management: A Comprehensive Approach to Developing a Sustainable System. London: CRC Press, 2012. Print.
Jones, Maurice. Fire Protection Systems. Connecticut: Cengage Learning, 2008. Print.