Many factories in Saudi Arabia do not apply safety and security standards to protect their buildings against fires. These factories also do not maintain their air conditioning networks and electricity cables. These reasons have recently contributed to a number of fire accidents, according to experts in safety and security buildings.
Gen. Saeed Sarhan, the Civil Defense Department’s spokesman in the Makkah region, said all buildings housing factories must apply safety standards to avoid fire incidents. Most of these incidents have resulted from the neglect in the maintenance of air conditioning system and failing to make regular checks on the electricity systems.
Speaking to Arab News he said: “Civil Defense firefighting teams contained two fire incidents which broke out in a factory last month in Jeddah’s industrial city. Fire accidents in Jeddah came down by 90 percent last year owing to the Civil Defense Department’s monitoring and implementation of safety measures in factories, warehouses and shops,” he added.
Earlier, Saudi Arabia underlined the Kingdom’s determination to build an energy system based on the latest technologies available that have been tried and tested in terms of environmental safety and security standards. In 2012, Hashim Yamani, president of King Abdullah City for Atomic and Renewable Energy (K.A.CARE), estimated the total cost of the program at $140 billion by 2030. He said 60 percent of the atomic industry will be nationalized in due course. Similarly, he added, 80 percent of the renewable energy industry in the Kingdom is based on technical and economic studies prepared by the city.
Basil Abdul Aziz, vice president and general manager of Al-Salem Johnson Controls in Saudi Arabia and Lebanon, told Arab News: “We are the first in the Kingdom to receive the international safety certification from Underwriters Laboratories (UL) for providing products which contribute to ensuring safety and security standards in a lot of buildings and factories in the Kingdom. With this important certificate, we have accomplished a new milestone toward exceeding our customers’ expectations. These global certifications confirm our success in maintaining the highest operational and technical standards at our manufacturing facilities in Saudi Arabia.”
The GOSI (General Organization for Social Insurance) has taken a serious view of this and is meting out heavy penalties to companies which fail to comply with safety standards. The occupational hazards subscription fees of companies have risen and can only be removed if they execute the safety recommendations. The GOSI has been working intensively on the safety of laborers at construction sites and has deployed inspectors to monitor these sites. In response, the companies have also started to educate their employees on proper precautions and safety measures at work. It is hoped that an increase in awareness of the work environment, and workers’ health and safety will prevent the incidence of any serious injury or casualty during construction activity.
Factories fail to maintain safety and security standards
