gottheTshirt

I have been back in Doha for a month after a six month break. Safety was never a strong point with two to three labourers being killed every day. But it appears that now no one is even pretending that there is any consideration of safety. In Westbay the pavements are dug up, there are timbers lying around everywhere with nails sticking out. even the pavement in front of Ashghal's office is dug up with no route for pedestrians other than on the road. And they are supposed to be the body responsible for road safety. every sit entrance is festooned with signs saying no PPE no entrance and other safety logos claiming accident free sites etc. While the sites themselves are a complete mess. I suppose what they really mean is that no one is even bothering to record accidents any more.

Dressing little Bangladeshi labourers in yellow jackets safety boots and hard hats is not safety

Meanwhile government teams are going around closing shops because they have an out of date Mars bar on the shelves, whilst mothers try to find a bit of pavement to push a pram without falling down a trench or being splattered by a speeding land cruiser.

Qatar "Deserves the Best" but gets Ashgal

Boomhauer

It's all about the outwardly image isn't it?

My sis has a daycare; the laws and regulations she has to comply with , learn about, teach her employees, pay for some of them to go learn etc..is world's apart from the Gulf attitude towards safety and responsibility.

Patsy Stoned

A friend of mine used this word to describe all things in Qatar
"Qatarded." seems relevant

scot47

The whole place is one Potemkin Village.

OleJanx

More like Kafka.

co durham boy

It;s never been any different but they are exceptions . Change needs to be driven from the top with safety culture and that is very difficult here. Ive worked on some projects here that have been some of the best i've been involved in but most are pure shite . People who are injured or die on site on a regular basis are not being given the very very basics of safety culture and management.

Qatari's have untold wealth but want to pay peanuts for everything which included airports , roads , metro's and unfortunately labour. Skinning the price off everything because they think they're getting a deal which in turn they get a poor product and a corrupt and crumbling industry.

Qatar will never ever change it's mindset or their practices . Just keep taking the cash and influence or change what you have control of , anything else is a wasted effort .

gottheTshirt

My concern is that I cannot find any way to get from one side to the other side of West-bay without either climbing over barriers and trenches or walking within the road. The general house keeping of the responsible contractors for these works are appallingly poor: piles of bricks and timber are strewn across the pavements with no safe passageway for the public. We are talking about the centre of the city of one of the richest countries in the world. The standards would not be accepted in the most backward developing countries, but are accepted without concern for the centre of Doha. With such total disregard for safety for the public one cannot begin to understand how bad safety standards must be on site when working for these contractors.

co durham boy

Correct and it's going to get worse , just wait until all the big work starts .

Pearson90

I probably work on the project in question. Its the red line north stretch of the metro project. H&S between the sites fluctuates massively depending on the contractor. Red line north is run by ISG, and the H&S on their sites is lax at best. H&S control measures only seem to be implemented within the confines of the sites, and not on the spans between them (such as through central west bay).
The large site in Misharib is run by Samsung and their H&S policy is comparable to what you can expect in the UK. They have 24hr client led surveillance to monitor H&S infringements, safety officers on site, they operate a red flag heat index system, and they ensure that all labourers have adequate accommodation.
I agree wholeheartedly that H&S considerations to the general public need to be improved considerably, and i encourage you to file all complaints to Qatar Rail (the client). If you are interested in pursuing this matter i can find and leave the contact details of the RLN H&S manager.

co durham boy

The metro projects are some of the best here in terms of compliance . I worked 4 years on the NDIA and Bechtel had some of the best system management i'd seen in the M.E.

Its the other projects people should worry about , death and injury are common place here and to improve you need a step culture change driven from the top , not just a PR exercise to appeal FIFA or the media .

The word in question is culture and these people unfortunately have a crap one .

gottheTshirt

My amazement is that all of the construction sites in Westbay/Diplomatic area are bedecked with safety signs and slogans yet there is zilch consideration to public safety. It is simply impossible to walk anywhere without having to climb over "safety " barriers. Anyway problem solved with the free bus service.