United Arab Emirates: Emirates Global Aluminium, the largest industrial company in the United Arab Emirates outside oil and gas, today announced the company is trialling wearable technology in its annual programme to prevent heat-related illness amongst industrial workers in the hot UAE summer.

This year, 50 volunteers working in EGA’s potlines, which are amongst the hottest parts of the company’s operations, are wearing devices to monitor critical health indicators including core body temperature, heart rate, and sweating rate. Data is transmitted in real time to supervisors and EGA’s occupational health team, with alerts to variations of potential concern. Use of the technology is expected to further improve timely detection of the earliest signs of heat-related illness and speed intervention.  

Heat-related illness is a hazard for anyone working outside in the summer months, and can be fatal if left untreated. EGA’s industrial processes generate further heat and must operate continuously, meaning workers are on shift around the clock every day of the year.

Abdulnasser Bin Kalban, CEO of EGA said: “We have focused on preventing heat-related illness each summer for many years. Through the commitment of all our people to this important effort, we have significantly reduced the incidence and severity of heat-related illness at EGA and in 2020 we achieved zero cases. Wearable technology offers the prospect of zero cases every summer, and I am optimistic about this trial. While heat-related illness is a particular challenge working with industrial processes that generate heat, it is a hazard for people working outside across our country. I am looking forward to sharing the results of this trial widely and other lessons we have learned to the benefit of everyone contributing to the wellbeing of our society through outdoor work.”

EGA‘s ‘Beat the Heat’ programme is an intense, annual summer-long effort across operations, which starts with awareness programmes to build knowledge of heat-related illness and its early signs for individuals and those around them.

Employees undertake hydration tests before and during shifts, in addition to being required to take regular breaks and being given access to cooling showers. Cooling booths, drinking stations, icemakers, and portable air conditioning units in EGA’s operational areas help employees keep cool. UV protection and heat rash prevention cream are also available to help keep people comfortable in addition to reusable water bottles and access to electrolyte drinks. 

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.

Contacts at EGA:
Simon Buerk
buerk@ega.ae

About EGA
Since 1975, when it was founded as Dubai Aluminium by His Highness Sheikh Rashid bin Saeed Al Maktoum, Emirates Global Aluminium has been innovating aluminium to make modern life possible.

Today EGA is the world’s biggest ‘premium aluminium’ producer and the largest industrial company in the United Arab Emirates outside the oil and gas industry.

EGA is equally-owned by Mubadala Investment Company of Abu Dhabi and the Investment Corporation of Dubai. It is the largest company jointly owned by the two Emirates.

EGA is an integrated aluminium producer, with operations from bauxite mining to the production of cast primary aluminium. EGA operates aluminium smelters in Jebel Ali and Al Taweelah, an alumina refinery in Al Taweelah and a bauxite mine and associated export facilities in the Republic of Guinea.

EGA’s aluminium is the second largest made-in-the UAE export after oil and gas. In 2021, EGA sold 2.54 million tonnes of cast metal. EGA is the only UAE producer and makes the UAE the fifth largest aluminium producing nation in the world.

EGA has more than 400 customers in over 50 countries. In 2021, value-added products accounted for 84 per cent of EGA’s cast metal sales.

EGA’s aluminium is primarily used in the construction, automotive, packaging, aerospace and electronics industries.

Around 10 per cent of EGA’s aluminium production is sold in the UAE to around 26 downstream aluminium companies that make products with EGA’s aluminium. The growing broader aluminium sector in the UAE supports 60,950 jobs. EGA itself employs over 7,000 of these people including almost 1,200 UAE Nationals.

EGA has focused on technology development for over 25 years. EGA has used its own technology for every smelter expansion since the 1990s and has retrofitted all its older production lines. In 2016 EGA became the first UAE industrial company to licence its core industrial process technology internationally.

As a corporate citizen of the UAE, EGA aspires in all its operations to be measured amongst the world’s leading metals and mining companies in meeting its environmental and social responsibilities. In 2017, EGA became the first Middle East headquartered company to join the Aluminium Stewardship Initiative, a global programme to foster greater sustainability and transparency in the aluminium industry. In 2019, EGA’s Al Taweelah site became the first in the Middle East to receive certification from ASI for its sustainability practices and performance. EGA’s Jebel Ali site was certified in 2021. ASI certification is the aluminium industry’s internationally recognised standard for environmental and social performance and governance.

In 2021, EGA began production of CelestiAL solar aluminium, produced with solar power from the Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum Solar Park on the outskirts of Dubai. EGA is the first company in the world to make aluminium commercially using the power of the sun.

EGA was formed in 2014 through the merger of Dubai Aluminium and Emirates Aluminium.

EGA’s Jebel Ali aluminium smelter began production as DUBAL in 1979. At almost five square kilometres, this site is five times bigger than Dubai Mall.

EMAL started production in 2009 and its Al Taweelah aluminium smelter was the largest single-site aluminium smelter in the world when completed. EGA’s Al Taweelah site is five times bigger than Al Maryah Island at six square kilometres.

EGA has its own power stations at both sites, producing electricity to meet its needs. EGA’s electricity generation capacity is 6,474 megawatts, making EGA the third largest electricity generator in the UAE after the Dubai and Abu Dhabi utilities. EGA also produces water through desalination units at its power plants.

EGA began production at Al Taweelah alumina refinery in April 2019. EGA’s alumina refinery is the first in the UAE and only the second in the Middle East. The project reduces the UAE’s dependence on imported alumina and supplies over 40 per cent of EGA’s needs.

Bauxite exports from Guinea Alumina Corporation, EGA’s wholly-owned subsidiary in Guinea, began in August 2019. The GAC project was one of the largest greenfield investments in Guinea in over 40 years. 

For more information on EGA please visit www.ega.ae.