Dulsco's Food Hygiene Campaign augments municipal efforts to raise food safety awareness among blue-collar workers

The awareness program, which ran from August 13th until August 20th, 2009, supported municipal initiatives throughout the UAE to enhance awareness of food safety and hygiene among employees.

The UAE's hot summer temperatures, which can reach over 45 degrees Celsius, increase incidences of food spoilage and create conditions conducive to the growth of toxic bacteria. Dulsco therefore decided to educate its employees about food hygiene via a comprehensive campaign which included visits and training sessions in employee accommodations. Hazard spotting exercises were held in kitchens and dining halls, with quizzes conducted afterwards and around 100 prizes given to staff practicing good food hygiene. "Five Keys to Safe Food" posters in English, Arabic, Hindi, Nepali, Malayalam and Tamil were put up to ensure maximum campaign awareness.

Johnson Alexander, Director-HR and QHSE, Dulsco, said:

"Worker safety and health are high on our agenda, as our business is anchored on the productivity of our personnel. Most of our blue-collar workers have little to no knowledge of essential food safety practices that can help them against falling prey to food poisoning and related sicknesses. Municipalities across the country have been implementing various programs to protect workers from threats posed by poor eating habits; our campaign served as our own unique contribution to this cause. It also complements the high health and hygiene standards we have set throughout our employee accommodations to ensure that our workers enjoy comfortable, healthy and safe living."

Dulsco provides housing for its employees in the UAE and Qatar. The accommodations follow more than 70 strict health and hygiene standards based on municipal law and international best practices. These standards are reviewed and upgraded periodically and non-conformance is dealt with seriously. Health and hygiene procedures cover areas such as internal maintenance, emergency response, food safety and recreation. Quality, Health, Safety and Environment (QHSE) awareness training is conducted constantly to ensure that every resident is aware of the company's QHSE policies and initiatives.

Dulsco, which has over 70 years of experience in the local business environment, has taken advantage of the region's steady growth to further increase its business activities, with the support of its more than 6,000 employees.