The Abu Dhabi Department of Energy (DoE) – the government entity in charge of ensuring the energy sector’s excellence and sustainability in the emirate – held an awareness workshop covering the major initiatives and the newly introduced amendments to the Incident Reporting Regulations.

Attended by representatives from 72 entities active within the Abu Dhabi energy sector over the course of two days (June 26-27, 2019), the workshop sought to introduce attendees to the MoU signed between DoE and Abu Dhabi Civil Defense, which seeks to promote mutual cooperation to enhance prevention and response capabilities, as well as to encourage best practices and contingency planning within the energy sector’s critical facilities.

Discussions explored potential challenges and fostered an exchange of expertise and lessons learned among attendees: Al Ain Distribution Company introduced its best practices, highlighting the results of the project to develop health and safety standards, which included developing software that allows users to report any defect or incidents in Al Ain’s Distribution Network.

Abdul Rahman Alalawi, HSE Director at the Abu Dhabi Department of Energy, said: "We adhere to a holistic approach that seeks to develop and improve the workplace, and that promotes a more efficient use of resources across the energy sector in Abu Dhabi. Our efforts align with the emirate’s vision and aspirations to constantly upgrade workplace health and safety and raise awareness around them to provide a safe work environment for our human resources."

"We firmly believe in the importance of these meetings we are holding with government and private-sector entities operating in Abu Dhabi’s energy sector. These meetings are key to maintaining an ongoing collaboration; they are essential for the DoE to remain well informed of the comments and suggestions coming from these entities, and embrace them to develop the sector," Alalawi added.

The DoE is committed to bringing occupational incidents to a minimum through the amendments on the Incident Reporting Regulations, which reduce the regulatory burden for licensed companies by 45%, all while maintaining their productivity and performance.