Ali Abdulla Al Ali, UAE country chair at Petrofac
In a Q&A with Health, Safety and Environment Review, Ali Abdulla Al Ali, UAE country chair at Petrofac, talks about workplace safety in the UAE and the importance of instilling safety principles from the get-go. Read on:
Can you tell us more about your approach to promoting employee safety and wellbeing and how it has evolved over time?
Safety has been at the heart of my career since the late 1980s, thanks to some incredible mentors like John McFarth. Back in 1980, when I was at Amoco, John drilled three key principles into me: thorough risk assessment, careful planning, and strong supervision. These became my foundation in health and safety, and more recently employee wellbeing.
I’ve built on these values by focusing on the power of training and engagement. Throughout my career at Petrofac in particular, workshopping - for both our teams and clients – has helped make sure safety isn’t a mere checklist, but rather a mindset that is lived every day. I’m also a firm believer in taking time to recognise and reward good safety behaviours. Even small things, like handing out certificates for internal training, can make a big difference.
Over the years I’ve expanded my approach beyond traditional safety measures to include overall wellbeing. One such initiative that I’m involved with is our ‘Know Your Numbers’ campaign, where thousands of our people have taken advantage of free screenings to monitor key health indicators such as blood pressure, cholesterol, and BMI. I am also a certified mental health first aid provider and have led multiple awareness sessions to reduce stigma and encourage open conversations about mental health.
Beyond that, we ensure colleagues are physically prepared for their roles through our ‘Fitness to Work’ programme, which includes health assessments, surveillance for high-risk roles, and return-to-work support for employees recovering from illness or injury.
How do you see your role as an Emirati leader who connects with the subcontinent workforce? What value does this connection bring to your projects and teams?
One of the things I enjoy most about my role is the diversity of our workforce. We employ more than 70 nationalities in total. But a great number of our people come from the Indian subcontinent, and when they realise I can speak Hindi or Urdu, it immediately breaks down barriers, builds trust, makes conversations easier.
When people feel heard and understood, they’re more likely to speak up, whether it’s about a concern or an idea for improvement. That kind of openness is crucial in our industry. And on a bigger scale, as an Emirati leader, I see it as my responsibility to foster inclusion and lead by example.
What do you consider to be the biggest health and safety risks in your industry, and what proactive steps are you taking to mitigate them?
Our role is to design and build big energy infrastructure plants. Its inherently dangerous work, but to give you a specific example, one of the biggest risks we face is during the commissioning and startup phase, especially when introducing hydrocarbons into a facility. This is a critical moment, if something goes wrong, it can have serious consequences.
That’s why we take a comprehensive approach to safety, from detailed start up reviews, regular drills to awareness workshops. Everyone on site needs to know the protocols inside out. We also place a huge emphasis on supervision and attention to detail.
Learning from the past is just as important. We record every incident, no matter how small, because that data helps us improve. We have an app where our people can log HSEQ observations and we look for trends in observations and make interventions before incidents occur. We also survey our staff to give us feedback on our processes, and we hold lots of open forums like town halls to keep communication regular, open and two-way.
What advice would you give to other HSE leaders looking to implement a more inclusive and multilingual approach to health and safety?
Instead of translating HSE materials as an afterthought, we design them from the start with different audiences in mind. That means using clear visuals, straightforward translatable language, and real-world examples that make sense to the people reading them. When safety feels relatable, people engage with it more.
It’s also important to create an environment where everyone, regardless of their background or language, feels empowered to contribute to the overall culture of safety in an organisation.
How do you measure the success and effectiveness of your safety initiatives at Petrofac?
We believe in keeping things simple. Going back to basics is key to safe and reliable operations so we track our progress through hard data and real feedback.
Some of the key factors we look at include lost time injuries (LTIs), safety observations, audits, permits issued, kilometres travelled, and total man-hours worked. Beyond the numbers, we listen to our people. If employees feel safer, more engaged, and more empowered to take ownership of safety, that’s when we know we’re making an impact.
