Safety culture is becoming a key strategic advantage for Middle East business leaders, according to the Institution of Occupational Safety and Health (IOSH). In a region known for ambitious giga projects, safety goes beyond accident prevention; it is now linked to resilience, performance, and competitive positioning.
IOSH is urging organisations across the Middle East to treat safety as a strategic asset rather than a back-office requirement. Its new white paper, Safety culture comes of age: empowering people, strengthening resilience, elevating performance, sets out a framework for embedding safety, health, and wellbeing at the core of corporate strategy. Central to this approach is the Business Assurance Certification (BAC), which helps companies assess and mature their safety culture while aligning it with governance, ESG goals, and workforce wellbeing.
Angela Gray, IOSH Technical Lead, said, “Safety culture is now a driver of performance and resilience. Our model empowers leaders to align safety with business goals, build resilience, and demonstrate their commitment to their people and ESG excellence.”
The BAC framework focuses on governance and leadership, systems and processes, and people and culture. Organisations can perform self-assessments using the Business Assurance Tool and pursue independent certification ranging from bronze to platinum, providing external validation that increasingly influences tenders and investor confidence in a market where transparency and ESG reporting are critical.
Global trials with 120 organisations, including major construction firms, revealed that most are in the early stages of safety culture maturity. However, the BAC framework immediately fostered cross-functional discussions and renewed investment in workforce wellbeing. IOSH stresses that this approach goes beyond compliance: integrating safety into strategy enhances resilience, encourages innovation, and signals serious ESG commitment.
By adopting this framework, Middle East leaders can boost investor confidence through measurable human capital metrics, strengthen client and supply chain partnerships, enhance productivity and retention by fostering psychological safety, and drive financial returns by reducing incidents, lowering insurance costs, and limiting turnover.
