Dewa becomes first utility in Middle East to receive NFPA 101

Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (DEWA) has received the National Fire Protection Association Life Safety Code (NFPA 101) from the international safety organisation UL. This new achievement underlines its regional leadership in occupational and environmental safety. DEWA is the first utility in the Middle East to receive this global recognition. DEWA received the NFPA 101 after a comprehensive audit by UL of DEWA’s warehouses, to ensure all buildings and equipment align with the safety and fire protection standards.   

“DEWA is committed to the vision of His Highness Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, to make Dubai a safe and stable city that consolidates the foundations of development by protecting lives and properties. DEWA is keen on keeping pace with the latest in occupational health and safety, due to its importance in providing a safe, healthy and happy environment to all employees, partners and customers. DEWA adopts best practices and successful implementation of all quality standards. It also ensures the spread of the health; safety; security; and quality regulations among all stakeholders and verifying its effectiveness. DEWA ensures that all employees and customers, as well as its partners’ employees, including consultants, contractors and suppliers; are aware of the latest in health & safety and fire protection, to reach the highest levels of excellence and quality. This is through ongoing training, knowledge sharing, and mechanisms for improving health and safety of human resources and improving productivity, operational efficiency and promoting sustainability. This reduces the number of wasted hours, increases productivity and efficiency, and enhances the happiness of our employees, while improving productivity,” said Saeed Mohammed Al Tayer, MD & CEO of DEWA.

“In keeping with international guidelines, DEWA adopts the three lines of defence model with management and supervision being the first line; risk management, compliance, legal affairs management and governance being the second line and internal audit as the third line. Receiving the NFPA 101 is a new achievement that enhances DEWA’s position at the forefront of international utilities in health and occupational safety, due to its adoption of integrated administrative systems policy to promote the culture of health and safety across all its departments,” said Al Tayer.

“We are fully aware of the risks that we face, whether in IT, operational technology, protecting buildings, among others and take these risks seriously, knowing they require immediate and swift procedures to mitigate and limit its adverse effects. DEWA is globally recognised in risk management. It has successfully assessed compliance with risk management policies in accordance with the requirements of ISO 31000, as well as the Global Risk Award for Building Risk Management Capability from the Institute of Risk Management (IRM), in 2013 and 2015, and the ISO 22301 Business Continuity Management for 2016, becoming the first service institution to receive this accreditation in the MENA region,” said Dr. Yousef Al Akraf, Executive Vice President of Business Support and Human Resources.

DEWA’s efforts in health, safety, and the environment have been crowned with several international awards. In 2019, DEWA was awarded the Sword of Honour for Health and Safety for the 12th time. The British Safety Council declared that DEWA is the only organisation worldwide to win both the Globe of Honour Award for the Environment and the Sword of Honour for Health and Safety, for eight consecutive years and the first international organisation to win the two prestigious awards at the same time.

DEWA has also won the Best Business Award in the Health and Safety category, which is one of the most prestigious awards in the UK. DEWA has renewed the Occupational Health and Safety Assessment Series Certification. DEWA is the first government organisation in Dubai to be accredited by the British Safety Council as a certified training centre. Those who are trained by DEWA’s internal training team, receive certificates in occupational health and safety from the British Safety Council.