Business & Finance Club Magazine - Medical Sector - UAE: HAAD announced that it has published again this year a full range of training and awareness resources for Supervisors, Occupational Health and Safety Professionals, and workers on managing work in hot environments in summer.

Dr. Salim Adib, Manager of Public Health and Research at HAAD said: "The aim is increasing awareness of heat stress and prevention of heat illness amongst employers and workers to decrease heat related illnesses in the Emirate during the summer and provide employers and workers large and small companies with the knowledge, tools and resources to work safely in the heat." The resources provide information on dangers of heat exposure and advice on precautions and control measures for heat illnesses prevention like identifying the signs and symptoms of dehydration and heat illness, and recommended fluid intake to maintain hydration as well as other precautions.

Darren Joubert, Senior Advisor Occupational Health at HAAD, said: "From feedback received from industry and companies registered in the programme in 2009, HAAD has updated it's safety in the heat awareness and promotional material and modified it in a way that appeals to all companies across all industry sectors. HAAD has introduced additional languages to maximize the reach and increase awareness amongst the diverse workforce of the Emirate that includes Arabic, English, Urdu, Malayalam, Hindi, Bengali, Telugu and Tamil." "HAAD in collaboration with the Ministry of Labour, is aiming to increase the number of companies registered in the programme as well as support the companies from last year's programme. Companies can go online and register at www.haad-safe.ae to collect free materials," Joubert added.

The materials and resources available include posters in multiple languages, and this year a special Ramadan poster with advice for fasting workers will be available. In addition pamphlets for workers and supervisors, awareness videos in different languages, DVD/CD sets, training materials and free HAAD water coolers for small businesses with less than 50 workers who register into the programme will be available.

Statistics from two large companies who implemented the Safety in Heat programme in 2009 indicated a significant decrease in heat related cases. Company A had a 79.5% decrease in cases from 15.3 in 2008 to 1.16 cases/1000 workers in 2009 and Company B had a 50% reduction in serious cases from 0.08 to 0.04 cases/100,000 work hours. It is hoped that many more companies can benefit from this years programme.