The UAE is making clear strides improving on health and safety at construction sites, but unified legislation would have a greater impact in the region  

Despite the lack of comprehensive health and safety statistics for the Gulf region, there is a clear consensus that safety on construction sites is improving. According to Build Safe UAE – the only organisation in the region that collects and analyses site safety statistics – there has been a marked improvement in the UAE between 2008 and 2009.

Data submitted by 18 contractors, covering 388 projects, reported 690 lost-time incidents and 20 fatalities in 2008. In 2009, 36 contractors provided data on 479 projects and, although there were more schemes, fatalities halved to 10, while lost-time incidents fell to 530.

“The UAE is the area of the Middle East that is making bounds forward in terms of health and safety,” says Peter Neville, health and safety manager in the Middle East for consultant Halcrow, which is a member of Build Safe UAE. “It has more legislation in place, which works to protect those both on and off site,”