Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (DEWA) has organised its annual Risk and Resilience Workshop as part of its strategy to keep pace with the Fourth Industrial Revolution and readiness for rapid developments in all areas. The workshop was attended by HE Saeed Mohammed Al Tayer, MD & CEO of DEWA, and DEWA’s Executive Vice Presidents and Vice Presidents. At the workshop, Al Tayer emphasised that risk management, institutional resilience, and business continuity are key factors in achieving DEWA’s vision to become a leading, sustainable, innovative, global corporation.
“We are committed to providing the necessary training for our staff in risk management and business continuity to enhance their capabilities to identify risks, develop proactive plans to prevent crises from happening or mitigate their effects if they happen. This workshop supports our efforts to keep pace with the tremendous technological developments and prepare for rapid change. This ensures business continuity and provides electricity and water services to over 850,000 customers in Dubai according to the highest levels of efficiency, reliability, and quality. DEWA operates a rigorous risk management system, bolstering its resilience by anticipating risks and preparing for change. These efforts have contributed to achieving several world records, surpassing major international utilities. DEWA’s practices are benchmarks for utilities around the world. The UAE, represented by DEWA, has maintained the top ranking for the second year running for Getting Electricity in the World Bank’s Doing Business report 2019, with 100% in all criteria,” said Al Tayer.
Khawla Al Mehairi, Executive Vice President of Strategy and Government Communications at DEWA, noted that DEWA and the British Standards Institution (BSI) launched the Business Agility Concept and Framework (PAS 1000:2019), the first-of-its-kind global standard to measure business agility. DEWA and BSI also signed an agreement to develop the PAS 60518:2020 standard for risk management in the energy and utility sector. This is the first of its kind in the world and will be a global reference for the energy and utility sector. In December 2018, DEWA organised the Risk and Resilience Conference under the theme ‘Enlightening Today’s Unknowns for Tomorrow’ in partnership with Ernst & Young.
DEWA is the Middle East’s first organisation to implement the SAP Risk Management 10.1 and adopt best international practices based on the ISO 31000 certificate. DEWA also received the Business Continuity Management System (ISO 22301) for its integrated operations becoming the first utility in the MENA region to receive this certification.