Emirates National Oil Company (ENOC) hosted a regional conference on Environment, Health and Safety (EHS) at Movenpick Hotel, Dubai. Given the focus on professional development, this year ENOC joined hands with the American Society of Safety Engineers – Middle East Chapter (ASSE-MEC) and the UAE Society of Engineers (UAE-SoE) in organising the event.
The Dubai conference, themed ‘Practical Experiences of the EHS Professional,’ featured in-depth discussions by professionals on various aspects of safety and EHS engineering. The conference also highlighted some of the latest projects of ENOC and its affiliates, and their experience in EHS.
The by-invitation only conference hosted around 150 safety supervisors and managers, safety practitioners and engineers, EHS professionals, occupational health nurses, industrial hygienists, occupational health specialists and physicians, and health & safety trainers.
Saif Al Falasi, ENOC Group General Manager, said that the conference has been strategic in bringing together leading EHS professionals from the region. He added that the event was significant given the economic development of the region in the past 30 years, especially the more accelerated growth in the past decade, which required all stakeholders to work together towards improving standards, regulations, and codes of practice and practices.
“The conference explored a subject matter of critical importance to the world today. In addition to occupational health and safety, there are environmental aspects to be integrated in the operational procedures of all organisations. These measures, adopted at a corporate level, are indeed the building blocks of any national-level sustainable development initiative,” said Waddah Ghanem, Chief EHSQ compliance officer, ENOC.
The key note presentation was delivered by Ghanem, focusing on the significance and importance of research and development in EHS in the Middle East. He also discussed ENOC’s approach on the same and explained how ENOC is working closely on various fronts to develop standards and effective EHS codes of practice within the organisation.
Among key discussions at the conference were research papers on the excellent track record of the UAE in engineering, process safety management, and environmental pollution, among others.
The first ENOC EHS Conference was held in 2004 and focused on the development of management systems. Many conferences followed including those that focused on developing safety cultures, developing people in EHS, Marine EHS, Environment and Environment Management Systems and Fire Safety Issues.