Panel discussion at PMV Live and Middle East Concrete debates serious consequences of ignoring safety standards in Gulf

"You always need to remain vigilant," said panelist Andrew Henry, operations manager - UAE at Al Habtoor Leighton.

"For all of our building sites, ultimately the head contractor is responsible for the safety on that site and when something goes wrong that's the person that the police come to...usually one of the things that happens initially is key management responsible on the site, particularly for safety, will end up being incarcerated and have their passports withdrawn. There are very, very serious consequences," he added.

Henry was joined by Eng. Alia Ismail, head of inspection bodies accreditation section at Dubai Municipality; Dr. Peter Schiefer, CEO of Wolffkran and currently chairman of the Committee for European Construction Equipment (CECE) Tower Cranes Section; Thibault Le Besnerais, global product director, Manitowoc's Potain tower crane line; and moderated by Stephen White, editor, Construction Machinery Middle East.

As well as the severity of the punishment for those who do not adhere to safety standards, the panel debated the level of inspection and accreditation required for tower cranes. The UAE is said to lead the way for the GCC according to Colley, especially Dubai.

Eng Alia is optimistic that things are being driven forward in the right direction, she commented, "We started the accreditation of the (accreditation) bodies in 2006, and if we go to the statistics of 2006 the number of accidents....the number of accidents has decreased a lot because of the accreditation programme."

What was made clear throughout the debate was that no matter what precautions are taken and accreditations are abided by, cranes 'cannot be made idiot proof', emphasised by both Schiefer and Besnerais. Education and training of employees is imperative and should be conducted on an ongoing basis.

"This was a hot debate that attracted a significant audience from across many sectors of the industry," said Nathan Waugh, event manager, PMV Live and Middle East Concrete. "Thank you to our panelists for taking part in such an important discussion and putting forward their insights and opinions," he added.

PMV Live and Middle East Concrete closes today (Thursday), the event took place alongside The Big 5 and FM Expo at Dubai World Trade Centre.