How Expo 2020 Dubai never lost sight of worker welfare through the COVID-19 pandemic

How Expo 2020 Dubai never lost sight of worker welfare through the COVID-19 pandemic

Dubai: Prioritising on the physical and mental health of the workforce and looking after their wellbeing is top priority for Expo 2020 Dubai. Work at the site is going on at full swing. On World Health Day, Emma Seymour, vice-president, Worker Welfare Expo 2020, highlighted the commitment of the team towards the collective health of the diverse community of the Expo 2020 Dubai work force. "Worker health, safety and welfare are of utmost importance to us and we have devised a strategy called 'Better Together', where all the participating organisations, contractors and sub-contractors share resources and ideas on health and safety so that there is an active exchange of best practices," Seymour said. She added that until January 2020, which was the peak of activities at the site, there were about 44, 829 workers working under 41 main contractors and 292 sub-contractors. "Currently, we have about 17, 000 workers and they come predominantly from India and Pakistan. There are some from Nepal, from many African countries, from Arab countries such as Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, Egypt and we have some from China as well. This constitutes a very diverse workforce and we ensure their physical and mental health needs are optimally