Regional health and safety presentation

Build Safe UAE
Brian Colquhoun
Buildsafe Spokesperson
Fujairah

•BuildSafe is the construction industry’s own – Not for Profit –
Health, Safety & Welfare initiative designed to support Regulators
& help construction stakeholders improve their Health, Safety &
Welfare performance.
•Our ultimate goal is to prevent accidents and save lives by
raising awareness, communicating potential dangers, sharing
lessons learnt & promoting best practices to educate others.
•Our core activities include sharing resource alerts,
communicating best practice information, measuring safety
performance, monitoring & addressing unsafe trends to reduce
lost time injuries & fatalities.
•By sharing experiences the group hopes to demonstrates that
accidents are preventable and that safety is ethically ‘the right
thing to do’ & business-wise ‘the smart thing to do’.

•Construction stakeholders who are willing to work together & agree a like
minded approach to this basic philosophy are encouraged to join
BuildSafe, especially those who want assistance in achieving it on their
projects.
•Today, we are supported by the highest levels of senior management
from (International & Local) Regulators, Developers, Contactors,
Consultants, Project Managers & Service Organisations.
•Our members publicly endorse the groups Charter & actively contribute
to the success of this initiative by complying with the groups set of KPI’s.
•Together we have built a strong website which contains a large volume
of safety information available for free to any registered BuildSafe user.
Our website www.buildsafeuae.com contains ‘Best Practice Safety
Information’ in the forms of Resource Alerts, Animated Safety Stories,
Safety Presentations & Links to Local Regulations.

•Our open email distribution has grown rapidly & significantly and
now reaches individuals throughout the UAE, surrounding Middle
East and greater Globe.
•We will continue to develop new projects, partnerships &
initiatives that align with our objectives & enhance our groups
deliverables.
•Our members lead this industry by great example. Their
contributions are recognised for making a real & tangible
improvement in Health, Safety & Welfare across the UAE. Best
practices, lessons learnt & safety statistics have been shared daily
since January 2008.

Introducing (from Left to Right):
Raoul:
Senior Supervisor with 30 years
experience. Very good Health, Safety &
Welfare knowledge.
Achmet:
Construction labourer with little
experience. Poor Health, Safety &
Welfare knowledge.
Farik:
Apprentice Labourer with no
experience. Poor Health, Safety &
Welfare knowledge.

Legalisation of Build Safe UAE
• The plan is for the six organisations to establish a not-for
profit limited liability company named ‘Build Safe’ in the
British Virgin Islands (BVI).
• This company would then have the ability to legally register
a ‘branch’ in the UAE (i.e. Build Safe UAE) under local law.
• After examining multiple ways of trying to establish a legal
entity for the past 3 years this is the singularly preferred
method.

Timescales
• It is expected that the formation of the limited liability
company in the BVI will take place before the end of
the year, which is also the target date for registration of
the branch in the UAE.
• These dates rely on the expediency of all parties
involved at each stage. Obviously it is still a slightly
new concept for us and the local authorities who have,
to date, expressed support and gratitude of the
commitment to move on using this approach.

Office Bearers
• Once BSU is operational the positions of office bearers will be
thrown open to the membership. Ideally we would like our
incumbents to pick up where we left off but for a number of
reasons this may not be possible in many instances.
• It is important to find the right replacement for the ‘Administrators’
role and that the role reflects the same importance within the
group and the local industry.

Direction
• In May 2010 there was already a plan in place to legalise the
group, transition the current administrator out of his role, and then
find an appropriate Patron for BSU.
• None of these key objectives have changed, albeit the
circumstances around legalising the group are different than had
been anticipated.

Direction
The membership in general, have one clear objective and that is to
re-start activities as soon as possible.
Including, but not be limited to:
1. A functioning website
2. Re-launch of safety alerts
3. Re-launch of focus groups
4. Working with strategic partners for the good of the industry
5. Continuing to share best practice related to health, safety and
welfare at every opportunity

Priorities
• To re launch the Group before the new year
• To re-gain momentum, which in the current
market will admittedly be tough, nevertheless this
is a key priority.
• To re-establish the group as a world-renowned
leader in the promotion of best practice in all
matters of Health, Safety & Welfare
• To involve new organisations and access parts of
government previously inaccessible.