The national occupation health and safety expert, Dr. Mohamed al-Mughalis has asserted that many provisions of the Yemeni labor law clearly spell out occupational health and safety procedures.

He points out that many contractors, engineers, and people concerned with occupational health and safety are not aware that Yemeni law emphasis the importance of occupational health and safety and stress on the need for application and compliance.

To start, can you give us a brief description of the concept of occupational health and safety?

Occupational safety is protection from injury for the worker, that may occur during work, while occupational work-related illnesses are due to the nature of the occupation - meaning: “Without work, injuries would unlikely happen. In general, the concept of occupational health and safety is the notion of protection of the health and safety of a human being. This can be accomplished by creating a safe working environment free from factors that may cause accidents or occupation-related illnesses.

It can also be expressed as a set of actions, systems and rules in a legal framework that aims at protecting human beings from the risks of injuries and protects private and public properties from damage or loss, or protects the environment from pollution.

The objectives of occupational health and safety can be summarized in the following:

• Provision of a safe working environment, by providing all necessary precautions, and occupational safety tools for workers.
• Protection of workers’ safety, their lives, and prevention of potential hazards resulting from shortfalls, or neglect in observing safety precautions.
• Concern for the safety of equipment, machinery, material, and private and public property.
• Concern for the surrounding environmental safety and prevention of pollution of any kind.
• Applications of international standards and criteria for occupational safety.
• Dissemination of an occupational health and safety culture in the community to make it a fundamental concept and an essential element in society.

These objectives can be accomplished by compliance with key steps, such as:

• Sound scientific and work-oriented planning.
• Enactment of appropriate legislations and laws to ensure compliance with occupational health and safety procedures.
• Implementation and compliance with the legislations and laws and the setting up of technical and control bodies to ensure compliance.

The law

Does the Yemeni law stipulate compliance with occupational health and safety measures in the work place?

Yes, many provisions of the Yemeni labor law clearly point out to occupational health and safety measures. Many contractors, engineers and people concerned with the issue of safety are not even aware that the Yemeni law emphasizes occupational health and safety and stress on the application of the needed measures to this end. You can go back to Republican Decree on Law No. 5 for the year 1995 on the Labor Law, specifically chapter nine under the heading “Occupational Health and Safety”: you will find that articles 113 -118 stipulates that the work place should meet certain occupational health and safety conditions. Chapter ten of the same law deals with insurance coverage during service of workers, and articles 119-121 call for providing workers with suitable health care. Chapter four, likewise, call for the organization of the work of women and juveniles, and articles 42-53 set out the conditions for work done by women and juveniles.

Awareness

With your work as a trainer and a national expert on occupational health and safety, how do you evaluate the contractors and society awareness of the importance of occupational health and safety procedures?

There is awareness in the contracting and construction sector and society on occupational health and safety, but it’s not up to the desired level. It needs time and effort so that awareness can be spread through training and awareness workshops in order to arrive at this level. This is exactly what the PWP is doing through the training sessions it has been organizing in all governorates of the Republic. I would like to point out that awareness is important, but this has to be transformed into a culture and has to be reflected in all areas of work as tools and procedures so that we reduce to a minimum occupation-related illnesses and injuries.

Initiative

How do you view the initiative by the PWP to organize training and awareness sessions for contractors and engineers in occupational health and safety?
I see this initiative as proves and a testimony to the high level of awareness of the PWP Management and the importance it attaches to the issue of occupational health and safety. It shows the Management’s concern for the lives and safety of workers in all projects implemented by the PWP and by making them objectives and priorities to advance the contracting sector to a level where we can see full compliance with international standards and specifications.

Outcomes

What are your expectations from these training sessions?

The outcomes of these training session, have surprisingly been reflected in work sites as a practice and in safety procedures and caught up rather fast. This is not solely due to the training sessions, per se, but also to the interaction and follow-up made by the PWP and the personal attentiveness of the Project Director, and area managers, as well as field staff of the PWP - including the managers of sub-district offices, engineers, and supervisors, who have all shown a keenness to implement the procedures and to transform everything taught in the training sessions into actions in all sub-projects.

Contractors interaction

How do you assess contractors and engineers’ interaction with the training sessions?

The level of interaction with the training session have been amazing. Engineers and contractors have clearly shown a keen interest. This is evident by the level of attendance from all governorates despite the difficulties in travel and the hardships they had to endure in the way. It’s also evident from the questions being asked during the training by the participants. It shouldn’t be forgotten that this is due, in part, to the huge effort made by the sub-districts managers who made the coordination and were keen to ensure its success.

Priority

What about the interaction of the PWP’s Management Unit with the issue of occupational health and safety, in general?

The keenness to implement and apply safety measures reflect the level of awareness of the management, which puts a lot of emphasis on the safety of individuals - being the most important element of development. The Project Director, Saeed Abdo Ahmed, has always stressed that this is a priority policy and an overarching objective for the project. His keynote address, during the opening ceremony, clearly reflects this sentiment. He always emphasis the determination and will of the PWP to uplift operations to higher levels by making this an establish culture and the application of international standards and criteria in quality control, occupational health and safety, as well as sustainable development.

Significance

What makes the implementation of occupational health and safety procedures important for the contractor and worker?

The importance of compliance with occupational health and safety measures, for workers, lies in the protection of their own and their colleague’s safety in the work site and prevention of any accidents that may result in severe injury or even death. For the contractors, compliances with these procedures and tools serve their interest in the first degree. They avert heavy potential financial losses in medical treatments, compensations, and insurances, which can be huge if you compare that with expenses incurred for compliance.

Challenges

What are the challenges faced during application of occupational health and safety measures in Yemen?

Challenges faced in the application of safety measures are mostly related to low level of awareness. People don’t attach the importance it deserves, especially the contractors who don’t give it a priority. The PWP is aware of this and this is the reason it has organized the training sessions that have brought contractors and engineers from all over the country together to sensitize them on the issue, as well as to give them a backgrounder on Yemeni legislations related to occupational health and safety.

And, in spite of the fact, that project documents include items related to occupational health and safety and the environment, there was a need to go into it in more details, in contract documents and in the terms and conditions of contracting, to include them as separate line items that include quantities and costs that have to be included in calculating the cost of projects implementations, and this is what the PWP is currently focusing on.