Over the last two years, the Ministry of Electricity (MoE) has worked closely with USAID/Tatweer on providing essential safety training for its operational personnel. During 2009, for example, sixty-nine MoE staff were trained at the safety management level. Nineteen of the most successful MoE participants from earlier safety training courses were selected and trained in advanced training-of-trainers (ToT) safety training to enable the MoE to expand safety training throughout its operations and ensure sustainability.

The Ministry created a Safety Working Group, involving several MoE directorates, which is compiling improved safety procedures in a comprehensive new safety manual targeted for completion in 2010. Recently, the Ministry prepared and released extensive statistical reports covering the number of fires, fatalities and injuries at MoE production, transmission and distribution facilities from 2007 up to October 2009. The figures reveal a significant reduction in fires at power plants: 137 in 2007 (6 months) and 102 in 2009 (10 months); an increase in reported injuries: 36 in 2007 (6 months) and 90 in 2009 (10 months); and a stable level of fatalities: 6 in 2007 (6 months), 13 in 2008 (6 months), and 8 in 2009 (10 months). Although these figures are somewhat fragmentary, their collection is the result of a significantly improved MoE accident/incident reporting process. By upgrading safety data collection and reporting procedures, the Ministry of Electricity is making an important step toward its stated goal of meeting international safety norms.