Building on longstanding partnership between EGA and the Abu Dhabi Civi Defence Authority, the new agreement establishes a comprehensive framework for cooperation on joint training, technical knowledge exchange, and the adoption of advanced fire safety and emergency response standards.

On this occasion, Brigadier Salem Abdullah bin Barak Al Dhaheri affirmed that the agreement represents a qualitative step towards strengthening strategic partnerships between the government and industrial sectors, noting that cooperation with Emirates Global Aluminium, as a leading industrial entity at the national level, reflects the Authority’s commitment to promoting a culture of safety and enhancing emergency response capabilities within vital facilities.

Colonel Dr. Faisal Hassan Al Qahtani, Acting Director of the Civil Protection Sector, explained that this agreement is the first of its kind with a leading industrial entity in the Emirate of Abu Dhabi. It stands as a model of integrated partnerships that bolster emergency response efficiency and elevate operational readiness in line with the highest international standards, setting a benchmark for future cooperation between the Authority and the industrial sector in the emirate.

For his part, Abdulnasser Bin Kalban, Chief Executive Officer of Emirates Global Aluminium, expressed his pride in this collaboration, stating: “For decades, EGA has maintained its own Fire and Rescue service to deal with any emergency on our sites. Our goal is to continuously improve, as in all aspects of our operations. By sharing best practice with Abu Dhabi Civil Defence Authority, we aim to further develop our already advanced capacity to deal with emergencies effectively and share what we have learned with others."

Emirates Global Aluminium operates one of the most robust fire safety and emergency response systems in the UAE’s industrial sector. The company’s fire safety and emergency response systems include  fully equipped fire stations at both Al Taweelah and Jebel Ali, staffed by a specialized team of 72 highly qualified firefighters, including four women. These teams maintain round-the-clock readiness and aim to respond to emergency calls from anywhere on EGA’s sites within no more than five minutes. Each EGA fire station is fully-equipped with fire trucks, rescue and hazard mitigation equipment.

The company adheres to the highest national and international standards, including the UAE Fire and Life Safety Code of Practice, as well as global firefighting regulations and standards, further solidifying its position as one of the country’s leading companies in industrial safety.

This agreement extends the ongoing cooperation between both parties and consolidates their joint efforts to strengthen the fire prevention and public safety framework in the Emirate of Abu Dhabi, in line with the wise leadership’s vision to build a safe and sustainable work environment that supports the nation’s industrial and economic growth.

Heat-related illness is a hazard for anyone working outside in the UAE summer, and can be fatal if left untreated. EGA’s industrial processes generate further heat and must operate continuously, meaning work is conducted outside around-the-clock all summer. EGA is a global leader in combating heat-related illness, with no cases since 2021.

EGA has been trialling wearable technology to monitor critical health indicators during the summer since 2022. The new wearable technology is designed for challenging industrial environments like smelters. The technology offers enhanced location services, connectivity and consistent real-time data feeds accessible by EGA supervisors and medical teams.

The devices provide automated work and rest cycles if core body temperature rises beyond a specified threshold.

‘Beat the Heat’ is EGA’s annual summer-long, comprehensive programme to combat occupational heat stress and entirely prevent heat-related illness. The initiative has been running for over a decade to drive awareness amongst EGA’s employees of the early signs of heat stress, and equip and empower them to take action to prevent the onset of heat-related illness.

This year, EGA has also deployed full body cooling units at EGA medical centres and selected operational areas in Jebel Ali and Al Taweelah. The cooling suits offer rapid, non-invasive core body cooling to support emergency response.

Abdulnasser Bin Kalban, Chief Executive Officer of Emirates Global Aluminium, said: “Heat-related illness is a serious challenge in our region. At EGA, our goal each summer is to engage everyone in ensuring we have zero cases of heat-related illness at our company, and together we have a long track record of success. Technology has the potential to make our Beat the Heat programme even more effective.”

EGA’s ‘Beat the Heat’ campaign includes hydration testing before and during shifts, scheduled cooling breaks, access to cooling showers, and dedicated rest zones across EGA’s operations. Employees and contractors use cooling booths, drinking water stations, icemakers, and portable air conditioning units to stay cool and hydrated throughout the day.

EGA achieved zero recordable heat-related illnesses for the third consecutive summer in 2024. EGA last cases of recordable heat-related illness were in 2021, when two employees required treatment at the company’s medical centres. In both cases, the employees received hydration via intravenous drips and fully recovered within hours.

Heat-related illness is a hazard for anyone working outside in the UAE summer, and can be fatal if left untreated. EGA’s industrial processes generate further heat and must operate continuously, meaning work is conducted outside around-the-clock all summer.

 ‘Beat the Heat’ is EGA’s annual summer-long, comprehensive programme to combat occupational heat stress. The initiative has been running for over a decade to drive awareness amongst EGA’s employees of the early signs of heat-related illness, and equip and empower them to take action to prevent the onset of the condition.

Abdulnasser Bin Kalban, Chief Executive Officer of Emirates Global Aluminium, said: “Our success in completely preventing heat-related illness on our sites for the third year in a row proves that this key hazard for outdoor workers in region can be overcome. Occupational heat stress remains a serious challenge in our region and beyond, and we believe our experience has important lessons for everyone employing people to work outside.”

EGA’s ‘Beat the Heat’ campaign includes hydration tests before and during shifts, along with regular breaks and cooling showers.

The company has also introduced cooling booths, drinking stations, icemakers, and portable air conditioning units across its production areas as part of the programme to help employees and contractors stay cool and comfortable during their shifts.

Personnel from EGA’s on-site medical centres work closely with employees on heat stress prevention, and to quickly treat anybody reporting early signs.

EGA has also trialled wearable technology since 2022, in partnership with US technology firm Kenzen. Some 300 EGA employees wore Kenzen’s wearable devices this summer, to monitor key physiological indicators such as core body temperature and heart rate. The devices, which are similar to those worn by elite athletes provide feedback in real time to both the wearer and EGA’s safety team, and enable the earliest signs of heat stress to be detected before they can even be felt.

EGA last cases of heat-related illness were in 2020, when two employees required treatment at the company’s medical centres. In both cases, the employees received hydration via intravenous drips and fully recovered within hours.

The pilot reduction cells are the first step in a larger planned project to upgrade a further 298 pots in Potlines 1 and 3 of the smelter, targeting to increase the amperage from 195ka to 215ka and boost production capacity by approximately 10 per cent.

EGA has completed a series of similar upgrades across its Jebel Ali site in Dubai and Al Taweelah site in Abu Dhabi in recent decades.

EGA technologists and engineers have dedicated more than 10,000 hours of work on the Kuala Tanjung upgrade project so far in design and implementation, including 4,300 hours spent at the smelter. As many as 20 different EGA staff were deployed at various times during the project, more than third of them are UAE Nationals and a quarter of them are women.

Abdulnasser Bin Kalban, Chief Executive Officer of Emirates Global Aluminium, said: “The successful completion of the start-up of these pilot pots is an important milestone both in our project to deploy EGA’s technological know-how in Indonesia, and our potentially wider partnership with INALUM. EGA’s technology team has a decades-long track record of success, creating value for EGA not just in the UAE but internationally.”

Danny Praditya, President Director of INALUM said: “EGA as a global aluminium company with expertise in aluminium smelting technology, and is the chosen partner for INALUM in developing increased aluminium production capacity in Kuala Tanjung. INALUM appreciated this collaboration on the pilot project, which has had excellent results. We are now evaluating these results for the next phase of the wider project. This is aligned with the Memorandum of Understanding that has been agreed to enhance the partnership between Indonesia and UAE.”

The upgrades to the pilot reduction cells at Kuala Tanjung include significant improvements to superstructure and potshells, as well as incorporating EGA’s proprietary Pot Control System which is state-of-the-art software that maximises metal production while reducing energy consumption and environmental emissions.

EGA has signed a separate agreement with INALUM giving the UAE company the exclusive right to provide its proprietary DX+ Ultra aluminium smelting technology for an expansion of the Kuala Tanjung smelter, should prove feasible.

EGA also has the right to take a minority equity stake in the project and to offtake much of the produced metal. EGA’s requirement for an investment or metal offtake is that the project uses renewable power. The existing aluminium Kuala Tanjung smelter uses electricity generated with hydropower.

EGA has developed its own aluminium smelting technology for more than 30 years. DX+ Ultra, EGA’s latest industrialised technology, is amongst the most efficient in the global aluminium industry.

EGA was the first UAE industrial company to license its core process technology internationally, in a deal with Aluminium Bahrain in 2016.

All EGA’s aluminium smelter expansions since the 1990s have used the company’s own UAE-developed technology. EGA has retrofitted all its older production lines.

Heat-related illness is a hazard for anyone working outside in the UAE summer, and can be fatal if left untreated. EGA’s industrial processes generate additional heat, and must operate around the clock every day of the year.

EGA has developed its system to combat heat-related illness over more than a decade. The company's annual ‘Beat the Heat’ programme is a comprehensive, summer-long effort across all EGA’s operations. Employees are trained to recognise early signs of heat stress in themselves and their colleagues, and are empowered and equipped to take action.

Since last year, EGA has also trialled wearable technology to detect the early signs of heat stress even before they can be felt. EGA extended the wearable technology trial to 350 employee volunteers this summer, from 50 in the summer of 2022.

Abdulnasser Bin Kalban, Chief Executive Officer of Emirates Global Aluminium, said: "Heat-related illness threatens the health of anyone working outside during our summers. EGA’s success in combating it is relevant for all companies with outdoor workers in the UAE and, with climate change, increasingly in other global regions. The good news is that heat-related illness is entirely preventable, even in the extreme temperatures we see in the UAE every year."

The wearable technology EGA is trialling was developed by an American company, Kenzen, and is similar to devices used by elite athletes. The technology continuously monitors core body temperature, heart rate, activity levels, and other vital indicators in real-time, alerting both wearers and EGA's safety team.

The ‘Beat the Heat’ campaign includes hydration tests before and during shifts, regular breaks, cooling showers, and the provision of cooling booths, drinking stations, icemakers, and portable air conditioning units in EGA production areas to help employees and contractors stay cool and comfortable during their shifts.

EGA achieved previously achieved zero heat-related illnesses in 2020 and 2022. In 2021 there were two cases of heat-related illness at EGA requiring treatment at the company’s on-site medical centres. In both cases, the employees received rehydration via intravenous drips and fully-recovered within hours.

Heat-related illness is a hazard for anyone working outside in the UAE summer, and can be fatal if left untreated. It is, however, preventable. EGA has focused for more than a decade on eliminating heat-related illness every summer.

Kenzen’s wearable technology offers the potential to further protect outdoor workers in the UAE, by continuously reporting core body temperature, heart rate, activity and other body indicators in real time allowing both the wearer and EGA’s safety team to detect heat strain in the body before the early signs can be felt. EGA used wearable devices for the first time in a trial of 50 volunteers last summer.

Despite industrial processes that generate further heat, and which must run and be tended around the clock, EGA achieved zero heat-related illnesses in 2019 and 2022. In 2021, EGA recorded two cases of heat-related illness requiring treatment at the company’s on-site medical centres. In both cases, the employees received rehydration via intravenous drips and fully recovered within hours.

Abdulnasser Bin Kalban, Chief Executive Officer of Emirates Global Aluminium, said: “Heat-related illness is a serious threat to health and even life in our region, and increasingly around the world. Our work has shown that heat-related illness is entirely preventable, even in challenging industrial environments like ours. Wearable technology offers the potential to protect people even more, and I am looking forward to the results of the wider trial we are conducting this summer.”

EGA‘s ‘Beat the Heat’ programme is an intense, summer-long effort across the company’s operations. Employees are trained to detect the early signs of heat stress in themselves and others. EGA conducts hydration tests before and during shifts, and employees are encouraged to take regular breaks and cooling showers. Cooling booths, drinking stations, icemakers, and portable air conditioning units in EGA production areas help keep people cool.

Kyle Hubregtse, CEO of Kenzen, shared his thoughts on the partnership, stating, "We are delighted to support Emirates Global Aluminium in their mission to prioritise employee health and safety and contribute to cutting-edge research on thermal physiology. By combining Kenzen's wearable technology with EGA's dedication to workforce well-being, we are setting new benchmarks in heat stress management and advancing the frontiers of occupational health."

EGA’s safety performance is already significantly better than global industry benchmarks. EGA is now aiming to eliminate the risk of serious harm in its operation this decade, a bold goal that has never been achieved by any industrial company.

EGA is focused on continuously improving all four factors of safety – technical solutions including inherently safe equipment, organisational safety management systems, authentic safety leadership, and human behaviour.

SafeStart addresses the human factor of safety, with the insight that rushing, frustration, fatigue or complacency contribute to almost all accidents both at work and outside. These states-of-mind lead to four critical errors – eyes not on task, mind not on task, moving into or being in the line of fire, and problems with balance, traction or grip.

As the vast majority of accidents worldwide leading to injury happen outside workplaces, the programme aims to enable EGA’s people to recognise these states-of mind and errors in themselves throughout their lives.

Abdulnasser Bin Kalban, Chief Executive Officer of Emirates Global Aluminium, said: “Our goal of eliminating the risk of harm is essential and very ambitious for any industrial company. To achieve it, we must focus on further improving all aspects of safety. Each of us at EGA is responsible for our own safety and the safety of everyone around us. This programme will enable us to recognise sates-of-mind which all human beings are prone to which can lead to someone getting hurt.”

Larry Wilson, Founder of SafeStart, is visiting EGA in Dubai to launch the programme and said: “EGA is a safety leader in the global aluminium industry, and I am pleased to bring SafeStart to the Middle East to support their goal to improve safety even further. In our lives, most of us have experienced accidents and all of us have had many near misses. Recognising our own states-of-mind that contribute to these unfortunate events is one key to preventing them, including at work.”

SafeStart has been deployed by more than 3,500 companies in over 60 countries.

EGA has a track record of innovative behavioural safety programmes that improve safety performance. EGA’s Beat the Heat programme, which enables employees to recognise the early signs of heat-related illness, has run for a decade and contributed to the company achieving zero heat-related illnesses amongst its workforce last summer.