An international conference held in Riyadh on Monday discussed several issues related to industrial safety and loss prevention, in the presence of a large number of local and international experts and specialists in the industrial safety field. The first session of the Saudi International Conference for Industrial Safety and Loss Prevention at Ritz-Carlton Hotel went over the concept of "Role of safety management and its leadership", where talks noted that the role of safety is connected to management's commitment and clarity to ensure the approach of safety management in any system, as well as all procedures and measures that are adopted, adding that the culture of safety should be instilled in all fields and at all levels, and it is not restricted to safety managements. The session also discussed the important role of the leadership of safety management and how it deals with accidents, investigation and addressing the root causes according to the best accredited practices. The second session discussed "Safe design and construction code" and its importance in building systems and its relation to safety in general, and how to build global codes, especially those codes related to safety and fire prevention. Participants stressed that industrial safety instructions in the Kingdom enjoy high credibility according to the laws of the Higher Commission for Industrial Security, in addition to the fact that the Saudi construction code is in harmony with this aspect at all the industrial and housing levels. Participants also went over the importance of commitment to applying instructions and construction code, stressing that failure to abide to them might cause catastrophic accidents, noting that engineers' efficiency must be tested and increase the level of rehabilitation and specialized training, where engineers play an important role in providing a safe environment for workers in any facility. The third session, titled "Inspection in safety and fire prevention field", went over ways to protect assets and property, where participants noted that the inspection process is among the most important factors in safety at facilities to follow up on the efficiency and performance of safety and fire prevention systems. The session also pointed out the most important conditions and factors that should be adopted by any process on fires, safety and the standards and equipment that should be used, in addition to the importance of rehabilitating engineers and inspectors to ensure the design and implementation of a construction code at the facility and their periodic work. The session also shed light on the importance of choosing licensed and proper tools and knowing their licenses and records, as well as planning for their maintenance with the aim of protecting the facility and workers alike. Participants in the fourth session, "Preparing for emergencies and accident management", discussed standards to reduce rates of accidents and injuries and all associated arrangements of the preemptive planning to prevent accidents and predict dangers before they happen, in addition to drafting plans necessary to avoid their reoccurrence, control them and increase the level of preparedness and developing these plans constantly and testing them regularly. Participants stressed that forward planning for accidents and management of emergencies is among the basic pillars to protect any facility from various types of dangers according to the record of possible risks, and it plays a role in increasing the level of preparedness for the facility and increases its ability to recover faster. The fifth and final session, titled "Business continuity", discussed basic principles for the concept of business continuity, plans, programs and its relation to the concept of risk management to ensure the work continuity of the facility and having a mechanism to identify critical jobs at any facility and the standards to preparedness for business continuity, in addition to having a mechanism for activating plans, their implementation and testing, as well as ensuring the operation of any facility in emergency cases. -- SPA
