EMAL wins GAC award for health and safety

Emirates Aluminium (EMAL) has won a Health and Safety award from the Gulf Aluminium Council (GAC) for its Environmental, Health and Safety resulting in EMAL's industry-leading record of 10 million work hours without a Lost Time Incident (LTI).

EMAL's EHS Leaders programme involves embedding EHS into the everyday work ethic at the Al Taweelah smelter. EMAL instigated the role of EHS Representative into every department and on every work shift. For the year 2010 - 2011, 41 employees were selected and assigned to the roles and received coaching and development, had their performance assessed and met regularly to share ideas and recommend improvements to the work environment. In 2011 the scheme was expanded with additional 59 new EHS Representatives. So far 110 (4.6% of the total workforce) employees have been EHS Representatives.

Saeed Fadhel Al Mazrooei, President and CEO of EMAL said: "EMAL has put the health and safety of its workforce at the heart of all we do. Initiatives such as EHS Leaders are helping EMAL to set standards for safety in the industry. As a result of the EHS Leaders initiative EMAL will continue to build a robust of health and safety culture throughout the company and provide a future legacy. It is very gratifying that this effort has been recognised by our peers in the regional aluminium industry."

EMAL is a state-of-the-art aluminium smelter complex supplying the world with high quality metal. The advanced smelter in Al Taweelah currently uses DX Reduction Cell Technology to produce 750,000 tonnes of aluminium annually. This will increase to 1.3 metric million tonnes by the end of 2014 upon completion of Phase II and the installation of the new generation DX+ Reduction Cell Technology to an additional 444 reduction cells, making it one of the largest single site smelters in the world. Early works on the estimated $4.5bn Phase II expansion began in early 2011, making EMAL one of the largest industrial projects in the UAE outside oil and gas and one of the key projects leading to the diversification of the UAE's economy.

EMAL currently supplies over 150 customers around the globe with high quality ISO9001 certified aluminium which is available as sow, standard ingots, sheet ingots, foundry ingots and extrusion billets. Sow and standard ingots are traded on the London Metal Exchange. An advanced infrastructure at the Al Taweelah site provides customers with reliable and sustainable production and distribution. The site currently includes a 2,000 MW power plant, which will increase to approximately 3,000MW by 2014, a carbon plant and a flexible cast house with the capacity to produce a wide variety of world-class products. A purpose-built wharf at Khalifa Port shortens the supply chain of raw materials direct from sea to smelter.

EMAL uses sustainable technologies to reduce emissions in line with Environment Agency Abu Dhabi requirements to minimise its carbon footprint. EMAL has created 2,000 jobs with Emiratization at the core of its employment strategy, which will rise to approximately 3,000 upon completion of Phase II. The company has also introduced scholarship programs to provide technical training for local graduates with guaranteed job opportunities. EMAL's community engagement includes open days for the local community and support for social, sports and cultural organisations.