Emirates Global Aluminium announced earlier this month that it will expand its partnership with wearable technology firm Kenzen to include 350 volunteer employees who will wear its heat-protection equipment.
Kenzen’s technology reports body temperature, heart rate, activity, and other body indicators in real time. This data helps individuals and the company identify potential health hazards due to heat before dangerous effects manifest themselves.
The trial is an expansion on a previous program that involved 50 volunteers last summer. The trial run is part of a bigger push to eliminate heat-related illness altogether, which it accomplished in 2019 and 2022.
Abdulnasser Bin Kalban, Chief Executive Officer of Emirates Global Aluminium, said in a press release that the project is of the highest importance for its workforce.
“Heat-related illness is a serious threat to health and even life in our region, and increasingly around the world. Our work has shown that heat-related illness is entirely preventable, even in challenging industrial environments like ours. Wearable technology offers the potential to protect people even more, and I am looking forward to the results of the wider trial we are conducting this summer.”
Kyle Hubregtse, CEO of Kenzen, noted how pleased his firm is to continue the project.
“We are delighted to support Emirates Global Aluminium in their mission to prioritise employee health and safety and contribute to cutting-edge research on thermal physiology. By combining Kenzen’s wearable technology with EGA’s dedication to workforce well-being, we are setting new benchmarks in heat stress management and advancing the frontiers of occupational health.”
Based in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, Emirates Global Aluminium is an aluminium conglomerate created by the merger between Dubai Aluminium (DUBAL) and Emirates Aluminium (EMAL) in 2013. EGA had an estimated enterprise value of US$15 billion at the time the merger took place. The firm is owned equally by Mubadala Development Company of Abu Dhabi and Investment Corporation of Dubai. Emirates Global Aluminium holds interests in bauxite/alumina and primary aluminium smelting.