This week, Aluminium Bahrain B.S.C. (Alba) launched a new safety and ESG campaign at its plant in Manama.
The campaign, dubbed “Back to Core Basics,” opened with comments from CEO Ali Al Baqali and was immediately followed by a panel discussion featuring several executives, including Alba’s Chief Marketing Officer Khalid A. Latif and Chief Operations Officer Dr. Abdulla Habib. The discussion, which was moderated by Alba’s Director Safety, Health and Environment Mohamed Khalil Saeed, also involved officers from Alba’s contractors were involved in the discussion, including MD of SMS WLL John Witter and MD of SKD Group S. Hassan Al Durazi.
Chief Executive Officer Ali Al Baqali said in a press release that safety culture is key to running a safe aluminium smelter.
“Our Core Safety Principles are the backbone to Alba’s strong Safety culture as they govern the way we perform our operations in a safe and responsible manner. We believe that Safety is a practice and by holding year-round Safety campaigns, we will improve our Safety practices and behaviours as we journey together in life.”
The three-day campaign will also include a presentation on renewable energy and its relation to the company’s push for decarbonization, a competition involving the entire plant, and floor visits by Alba’s top brass.
Alba is one of the largest industrial companies in the Middle East and is the world’s biggest aluminium smelter outside the People’s Republic of China. Originally incorporated in 1968, the company is based in Bahrain and 84% of its total workforce are Bahraini nationals. It began operations in 1971 with a 120,000 metric ton annual capacity. Modernization bumped the output up to 450,000 metric tons in 1992. In the spring of 2005, Alba opened Line 5, raising output by 860,000 metric tons per year. In 2021 Alba’s smelter produced 1,561,222 metric tons of primary aluminium.