EGA holds first annual Rashid Awards...

The importance of a good working environment in regards to promoting safety is hard to calculate with data and pie charts. Why? Because each and every plant have their own unique traits or characteristics. No doubt that the company management play an important role in setting the “tone” in a plant. The Aluminium Plant Safety Blog has noticed that plants who have a positive environment tend to be safer. One way to instil an environment where safety is promoted is for the workers to feel acknowledgement and appreciated for their hard work. That acknowledgement and appreciation can be used as motivation for fellow workers. Here is a recent story where an aluminium company acknowledge the great work that individual employees:

EGA holds first annual Rashid Awards

Awards ceremony highlights employee best practice in Environment, Health & Safety and Operational Excellence

United Arab Emirates: Stemming from a 34 year old tradition of recognizing and encouraging exceptional achievements, and inspired by the heritage of the late Sheikh Rashid bin Saeed Al Maktoum, Emirates Global Aluminium (“EGA”) has launched the “Rashid Awards”. An annual ceremony which recognizes employees who have excelled in the areas of Environment, Health & Safety (“EHS”) and Operational Excellence, the Rashid Awards are an integral component of EGA’s quest to excel through continuous improvement and innovation.

Keeping with tradition, all employees and executive management were invited to attend the Rashid Awards ceremony, which took place on 25 February at the Dubai World Trade Center. Speaking at the event, Abdulla Kalban (MD & CEO at EGA) said, "We are here today to recognise the outstanding contribution that EGA employees have made in the past year towards the success of the company. We attach great importance to these awards, which enable us to express our appreciation to those individuals and teams who have shown immense dedication towards our vision of building a legacy of excellence for the UAE." With more than 1,000 employees in attendance, the award in each category was presented to the following winners:

EHS

·        Best EHS Contractor 

§  Major Projects Contractor – William Hare

§  Operational Contractor – Al Banna Engineering

·        Best Environment Performance

§  Al Taweelah – Carbon & Port

§  Jebel Ali – Reduction

·        Best Environment Initiative

§  Jebel Ali Power & Desalination for “Minimizing Emissions through Energy initiatives”

·        Best Health & Safety Performance

§  Al Taweelah – Power & Desalination

§  Jebel Ali – Reduction (Potlines 1-3)

·        Best Health & Safety Initiative

§  Al Taweelah Power & Desalination for “Behaviour Based Safety Campaign”

·         Best EGA Environment Health & Safety for Support Services

§   Operations – Jebel Ali Casthouse Process Control & Metallurgy; Casting Services; and Production Control for “Improving EHS in Casthouse Services areas”

§   Administration – Al Taweelah Training & Development for “Implementing an EHS Sub-committee”. 

Operational Excellence

·        Lean Six Sigma

§  Al Taweelah – Carbon & Port

§  Jebel Ali – Casthouse

·        Kaizen

§  Al Taweelah – Reduction

§  Jebel Ali – Carbon Operations (Rodding)

·        5S

§  Al Taweelah – Carbon & Port

§  Jebel Ali – Smelter Services (Planning, Cell Lining & Preheat)

·        Best Suggestion of  the Year (Environmental)

§  R K Sharma and S Ramalingam from Potroom Maintenance for “Oil filter crusher to remove oil and protect environment”

·        Best Suggestion of the Year (Safety)

§  Al Tawleelah - Raseesh Kumar, Laiju Jose and Ronel Delica from Reduction for “Pot Tending Machine extractor cam guide modification”

§  Jebel Ali - Mudassar Hassan and Zakir Hussain from Cell Lining for “Use sacrificial fuse to energise pot without using shunts bypass system”

·        Best Suggestion of the Year (Innovation)

§  S Ramasamy and P K Nadar  from Potroom Maintenance for “Reliable vent valve for Potline Dense Phase System”

·        Best Suggestion (Plant Sustainability)

§  Jebel Ali – Florencio and Abdul Latheef  from Dock Operations for “Improve suction unloader blower 3 room temperature”

§  Jebel Ali – Sivakumar, Thilak Kumar and Elvis Asingal from Potroom Maintenance for “Enhance pot demolition hydraulic system”

§  Al Taweelah –  Syam Kumar, Mahesh Mhatre and. Mohamed Al Dhanhani,  for “Potline 3 superstructure junction box 1”

·        Best Suggestion (Energy-Saving)

§  Al Taweelah – Charavartyi, Bhavin and Swamy for “Improve Steam Turbine 10 power generation”

§  Jebel Ali – Sultan and Thiyagarajan for “Reduce riser in new cells by welding strips”

·        Best Suggestion (Idea of the Year)

§  Al Taweelah – Sayed Kurshid and Avinash Chougule from Reduction for “Auto tapping logic”

§  Jebel Ali – Majid Murtaza and Nageshwara Rao for “Standardize the location and fabricate the tool for stub in carbon drop”

  

At EGA, operational excellence is a fundamental constituent of the company’s DNA, where teamwork, problem-solving and innovation result in continuous improvement throughout the organization. EHS is a core focus area, and EGA has already made significant advancements in this direction, reducing operational environmental impact and investing in social and economic development to ensure a sustainable future for the UAE.

Fortified by a rich history of innovation and operating achievements by EGA’s subsidiaries, the first Rashid Awards have set the bar high.  Moving forward, the company is targeting perfection in EHS performance with the aim of bringing EGA substantially closer to the target of zero harm to people and the environment. Specific components of operational excellence such as improving customer satisfaction, lowering costs, minimizing error and maximizing efficiency also remain under the spotlight.

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About EGA

Emirates Global Aluminium (“EGA”) is a jointly-held, equal-ownership company formed by Mubadala Development Company of Abu Dhabi and the Investment Corporation of Dubai by combining their respective aluminium industry interests. EGA’s core operating assets are Dubai Aluminium (“DUBAL”, also known as EGA Jebel Ali) and Emirates Aluminium (“EMAL”, also known as EGA Al Taweelah), whose combined annual production capacity of 2.4 million tonnes per annum (“tpa”) places EGA among the top five primary aluminium producers in the world, by volume. The UAE-based EGA also owns Guinea Alumina Corporation (“GAC”), a strategic bauxite mine and alumina refinery development project in West Africa. In addition, EGA has plans for significant local growth and international expansion.

DUBAL, where commissioning began in 1979, operates one of the world’s largest single-site primary aluminium smelters. The DUBAL complex, built on a 4.75 square kilometre site in Jebel Ali, Dubai, comprises a 1 million tpa smelter, a 2,350 MW power station, a large carbon plant, extensive casting operations (more than 1.2 million tpa), a water desalination plant, dock and other facilities. DUBAL holds ISO 9001, ISO 14001, ISO/TS 16949, ISO/IEC 20000-1, ISO/IEC 27001, ISO 29990, ISO 50001 and OHSAS 18001 certification.

EMAL, where commissioning began at the end of 2009, is the world’s largest single-site primary aluminium smelter. The EMAL complex, housed on a 6 square kilometre site in Al Taweelah, Abu Dhabi, comprises a                 1.3 million tpa smelter, a 3,100 MW power station, a large carbon plant, extensive casting operations (more than 1.8 million tpa), a water desalination plant, dock and other facilities. EMAL holds ISO 9001 accreditation and Nebosh certification in Occupational Health and Safety.

The combined DUBAL-EMAL portfolio comprises high quality primary aluminium products in three main categories: high purity and foundry re-melt products (for electronics and aerospace and automotive applications respectively); rolled products (for packaging, lithographic sheets and the automotive industry); and billets for extrusion and forging (for construction, industrial, transportation and automotive purposes). Busbars and anode bars are also made for the electrolytic process used to produce primary aluminium from alumina ore. Over 350 customers are served in at least 68 countries, predominantly in Asia, Europe, the MENA region and the Americas. 

Congratulations to everyone at Emal and Dubal for the continued effort to become safer. Congratulations to EGA for their inagural Rashid Award which will enhance the safe working enviornment that you have worked so hard to promote. Keep up the good work!

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