As health safety environment (HSE) continues to gain traction in the corporate world, its definition has evolved over time and looks very different today from how it used to be over a decade ago.
There are still gaps to be addressed, however. And one such grey area was recently addressed at the HSE MENA forum, when Dorsaf Teraaoui, Senior HSE Manager at Dubai Holding Asset Management, highlighted the importance of leadership in HSE.
“A very important quality in leadership is to never be afraid of changing. Leaders must understand that its not about the message but how we say or convey it,” she said.
The ability to influence is what differentiates leaders from managers. HSE specialists aren’t in a position to play the victim. Teraaoui raised questions, asking, “How much are we influencing? We should ask that question to ourselves as well, not only questioning the top management… We should be also having certain qualities as leaders to influence and to make the change happening. And that's why leadership matters in HSE.”
“If we dont have a proper foundation of leaders we wont be able to take decisions and deal with the consequences,” she said.
Teraaoui explained that Dubai Holding Asset Management is part of the Dubai Holding Group that was founded in and operates out of Dubai. Some of its sister brands, such as the Jumeirah Group, went on to expand globally. Malls such as Dragon Mart, Ibn Battuta, Palm Jumeirah and the luxury waterfront living project called Palm Jebel Ali are all associated with the Dubai Holding Group.
The role of Dubai Holding Group’s asset management division thus expands beyond addressing only employee safety, to deal with much bigger numbers, involving visitors, clients, customers and residents.
To foster leadership and safety culture for every stakeholders involved, the organisation pushes the boundaries of training and engagement for just employees. It facilitates HSE conferences in a much bigger scale that also includes its CapEx contractors and fit-out contractors. While they are not direct contractors, and contractors hired by the organisation’s tenants, it still imparts safety awareness for everyone out of moral responsibility. Such addresses are directed to the top management first, as health and safety comes from top to bottom and not the other way round.
Emergency preparedness in malls are addressed through training, and regular inspections are conducted on all retail units and tenants to ensure universal compliance of health and safety standards. These sessions not only address but also ensure practical applications for kids’ safety; the company has engineering controls installed on windows, for instance.
Elaborating on its leadership culture, Teraaoui acknowledged good governance on part of the company’s Group CEO. Each and every asset of the company are taken into account when it comes to risk assessment.
Establishing a case in point, Teraaoui mentioned that following the Nakheel and Dubai Holding Group merger in 2024, as many as 18 HSE critical risks were identified from one of the most prestigious assets. Following assesment, these were brought down to four, and the company continues to work on mitigating all the remaining risks by this year. This remains a time-incentive task also because it is a critical aspect in entering the listing stage, which is currently an important objective for the company.
