Aligning with the spirit of World Day for Safety and Health at Work, Dubai Duty Free employees gathered on 28th April to commemorate the event in the company’s auditorium.

The annual World Day for Safety and Health at Work is an awareness-raising campaign started in 2003 by the International Labour Organization (ILO), which promotes the prevention of occupational accidents and diseases globally.

The event saw a series of activities including insightful lectures on safety at work, awarding, two video presentations as well as the launching of three safety initiatives presented by its Corporate Responsibility Department, which is headed by Bernard Creed, Senior Vice President - Finance and Olympia Pineda, Manager – Corporate Responsibility Department.

As part of the proceedings, Dubai Duty Free’s Executive Vice Chairman & CEO, Colm McLoughlin delivered a speech about the importance of safety on-site and reiterated how imperative it is to adhere to safety principles and to make safe practices part of their day-to-day living.

The award distribution ceremony saw 279 Dubai Duty Free employees presented with Safety Award Certificates for successfully completing the British Safety Council e-Learning course on General Safety, Health and Environmental Awareness.

The first initiative, the DDF Safety Video Competition, invites employees to create a 180-second video showcasing the implementation of Dubai Duty Free safety procedures and the impact to the overall safety culture in the workplace.

The second initiative, the DDF Safety Marathon, is a company-wide Safety Awareness campaign designed to increase employee knowledge of Dubai Duty Free HSE Management System and improve the health and safety performance of all staff.

Lastly, the DDF Safe Million Hours, is a scheme for Dubai Duty Free teams which have maintained safety within their areas and have contributed to at least 1 million consecutive work hours without an occupational injury or illness resulting in days away from work.

Commenting on the celebration and the initiatives, Mr. McLoughlin said, At Dubai Duty Free we are doing our share to mark and celebrate the World Day for Safety and Health at Work. Today’s celebration is an indicator of just how much attention has been paid to making employee safety a major priority at Dubai Duty Free. We hope the these initiatives will continuously improve our safety culture by taking ownership on safety issues, implementing company Health & Safety procedures and adopting safe work practice

At the end of the event, a surprise raffle draw for TV’s and mobile phones took place and all attendees were given a first aid kit as memento.

Also present at the day’s activities were Salah Tahlak, EVP-Corporate Services, Zayed Al Shebli, VP – Loss Prevention and Corporate Security and Kumar Ananthan, VP – Finance.