The Abu Dhabi Department of Energy (DoE) the government entity in charge of guaranteeing the energy sectors excellence and sustainability in the emirate held an awareness workshop covering the major initiatives and the recently 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 encourage shared cooperation to improve prevention and response competences, as well as to reassure best practices and contingency planning within the energy sectors critical facilities.

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

Abdul Rahman Alalawi, HSE Director at the Abu Dhabi Department of Energy, said: We observe to a holistic approach that seeks to develop and advance the workplace, and that promotes a added competent use of resources across the energy sector in Abu Dhabi. Our efforts align with the emirates vision and goals 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 Dhabis energy sector. These meetings are important to upholding an ongoing partnership; they are important for the DoE to remain well informed of the comments and proposals coming from these entities, and embrace them to advance the sector, Alalawi added.

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