To coincide with and celebrate the International Labour Organization’s (ILO) World Day for Safety and Health at work 2025, Dubai Municipality organised a conference at the Canadian University in Dubai yesterday (Monday 28 April), under the ILO theme of ‘Revolutionising Health & Safety – The role of AI and digitization at work’.
In a session moderated by Dr. Alounoud Almarzooqi, Assistant Professor at College of Health Sciences at the University of Sharjah, Ryan Mitchell, Director of QHSEW at leading UAE-based FM company Farnek and Javeria Aijaz, Managing Director of Farnek group company HITEK AI, shared their thoughts and opinions on the subject of – ‘Navigating HSE Through Time – Past, Present and AI future’.
Mitchell recalled what the early days of workplace safety looked like and summarised where HSE is today in Dubai: “Initially it was basic, the earliest laws were reactive, but here in Dubai, our journey really took off with Federal Law No. 8 in 1985 — it put safety on the national radar.
“Then came the EHSMS in Abu Dhabi in 2010 and the introduction of Dubai Municipality’s safety codes – those frameworks built the solid ground we stand on today,” he commented.
“Today, safety’s not just about avoiding harm — it’s about proactively managing risk. At Farnek, we’ve moved from audits and paper trails to real-time risk visibility and predictive HSE.
“Using our own digital solution SAFETEK, which was developed in-house by HITEK AI, we can flag fatigue patterns, detect gas leaks, and reassign jobs before an incident even occurs — all while aligning with ISO 45001,” he added.
The two experts also discussed pertinent issues such as Agentic AI and trusting data, over potential physical response delays, surveillance, compliance, auditing, as well as identifying those Dubai Industries, apart from facilities management providers that are leading the drive towards AI.
“Construction, aviation and even sanitation” said Aijaz. “And in traffic, logistics, and port operations too — we’re seeing AI applied to pedestrian safety, fatigue tracking for drivers, and even zone-based geofencing for incident prevention,” she added.
Looking to the future, Mitchell said, “In five years, I would like to see Dubai referred to as the global reference for intelligent safety — where systems predict, respond, and care. Not just because it’s futuristic — but because it respects life.”
Other notable speakers at the conference which attracted local and regional HSE professionals, Dubai regulators, AI adopters and smart city stakeholders, included, Dr. Naseem Mohammed Rafee, Acting CEO Environment Health and Safety Agency-Dubai Municipality and Saeed Alfalasi CEO of the Dubai Center for Artificial Intelligence Applications at Dubai Future Foundation.
