Important safety milestone for new Gyproc plant

On the 23 February 2012, Saint-Gobain Gyproc’s new plasterboard plant in Dubai passed its first major safety milestone, notching up 1000 days without a single lost-time accident.

The achievement is all the more important because it signals a complete absence of lost time accidents at the state-of-the-art plasterboard plant, not only since its opening in April 2010, but during the latter part of the construction phase and throughout plant commissioning, a potentially hazardous period as the new plant and processes start up.

“Health and Safety is a key priority for all Saint-Gobain companies worldwide” said Managing Director, Paul Button, “we want people who visit our plant to leave in the same health as they arrived. So whether they are employees, contractors or visitors, we make it a priority to ensure that everyone follows strict safety rules and procedures.

“Accidents that result in lost time not only have the potential to impact on the health and lifestyle of our people, they damage our image as a caring and considerate employer, and affect our ability to manage our business efficiently. We have therefore striven to embed a culture of safety throughout our operation, with every person fully aware of both their own responsibilities and everyday safe working practices, and those of their colleagues.

“As well as our intensive safety training programme and events and activities to spotlight safety, everyone has been working hard to embed a culture of health and safety at the plant. I am extremely proud of what we, and they, have achieved in reaching this important milestone.”

Notes for readers

The new Saint-Gobain Gyproc Middle East plant produces a range of high performance plasterboard products and accessories for the Middle East construction market. The products offer significant cost and installation benefits for interior lining systems, enabling buildings to be constructed quicker, and at lower cost than the alternative heavyweight masonry systems.

Saint-Gobain uses a series of markers, including the important LTA (Loss Time Accident Free) measurement, to assess and compare safety performance across all of its businesses worldwide.