WILOC Technologies calls on private companies and public entities to accelerate the implementation of solutions focused on the safety of their employees as a way to increase productivity, reduce operating costs and get closer to the goal of Zero Accidents.
According to data from the General Organisation for Social Insurance (GOSI), the number of occupational accidents has been reduced by 8% nationwide in the first quarter of 2023, and the number of participants in safety awareness programs has increased by 34%.
Despite the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Development recently pushing for new regulations on occupational health and safety, the Social Insurance Report of Work Injuries of 2022 presented by GOSI shows that the construction sector accounts for approximately a third of the country's occupational accidents.
One in three work-related accidents in Saudi Arabia in the past year -9,607 out of a total of 28,227 cases registered- was directly related to the construction sector, and around half of the incidents requiring medical attention involved machinery, according to the Social Insurance Report of Work Injuries presented by GOSI. According to the report, the accident rate last year was 25.9 claims per 100,000 policyholders. If this trend continues in 2023, the number of work-related accidents in the construction sector will have a major impact on companies' balance sheets, jeopardising the growth of one of the country's most important industrial sectors.
WILOC, global specialist in highly technological systems based on purpose-designed IoT solution for HSSE, is calling on both private companies and public entities operating in Saudi Arabia to continue working in reducing the number of workplace accidents in the country, increase the awareness on the importance of using mandatory personal protective equipment (PPE), and help companies automate the use, control and management of PPE to reduce work accidents, hence contributing to increase productivity and lower operational costs.
Through the positioning obtained by attaching portable devices to operators' helmets or safety waistcoats, WILOC's solutions enable prevention managers to determine in real time whether their workers are not wearing the necessary protective equipment for their work or are in an restricted area for which they are not sufficiently qualified or when there is a specific safety risk - for example, the presence of noxious gases.
By setting customisable alarms on a single dashboard, supervisors can spot in real time if any of the operators remain motionless for an abnormal amount of time, which could be caused by a work-related incident. In such cases, knowing their location in real time, even anonymously, reduces the time needed for rescue and evacuation.
WILOC's solutions also contribute directly to increasing efficiency and reducing operating costs by facilitating and speeding up access controls to company facilities, especially those with hundreds or thousands of employees. In addition, WILOC’s platform provides automated working hours reporting and work permit management for active employees, which increases the overall efficiency of the project.
WILOC has implemented their Access and Presence Control solutions in the region, specifically for large Oil & Gas sites in Arabia Saudi, where the management and control platform is counting today over 30.000 workers in several sites in the country. WILOC track& trace solutions apply for both people and vehicles and they are deployed worldwide so that civil works, mining companies and large engineering sites can benefit from a full automated monitoring system, that combines access control from a security perspective as well as portable devices to improve workers’ safety.
According to the GOSI, there have been already 6,675 occupational accidents in the country during the first quarter of 2023, an 8% decrease compared to the same period last year, which according to Fernando Blaya, Business Development Director at WILOC, "This reduction represents an important improvement in the safety of the labour force, but we still have a long way to reach the Zero Accidents in the most important assets in any organization: the human resources. Our international expertise proofs that the digitalisation of processes and the implementation of HSSE solutions are tools that contribute significantly not only to reducing the accident rate, but positively impact on companies' bottom lines”.
About WILOC
WILOC is a world leader in the implementation of cutting-edge solutions for the digitisation of processes in different industrial sectors, such as renewable energies, the extraction and processing of oil and gas derivatives, construction or the traceability of assets and people in smart ports 4.0, contributing to the optimisation and reduction of costs. Its multifunctional solutions, completely scalable and versatile, are aimed at guaranteeing the safety of workers in all types of industries thanks to their real-time positioning and management of access, entrances, exits and presence; increasing productivity in the renewable energy sector through the digitisation of processes; the management and control of assets in warehouses; or the location and management of vehicles and operators in ports. WILOC is currently collaborating with some of the main international engineering projects in markets such as the USA, Saudi Arabia and Singapore, or in different European countries, including Spain. For more information, please visit www.wiloc.com
More information
LeanFactor Global Communication
Tel.: +34 663 288 081
e-Mail: wiloc@leanfactor.net