Partnering with NEBOSH for better health and safety – Red Sea Global
Case Study: John Dunne
NEBOSH spoke to John Dunne, Group Head of Health and Safety at Red Sea Global. John Dunne brings more than 27 years of experience as a Health, Safety, and Environment professional from a diverse background in manufacturing, construction, engineering, consulting, and the military.
Red Sea Global is spearheading a new model of development, which puts people and the planet first, leveraging innovative concepts and technologies to deliver projects that actively enhance the wellbeing of customers, communities, and environments.
Its portfolio includes two world-leading destinations, The Red Sea, which has been welcoming guests since 2023, and AMAALA, which will open in the coming months. These responsible and regenerative tourism destinations collectively aim to enhance Saudi Arabia’s luxury tourism and sustainability offering, going above and beyond to not only protect the natural environment, but to enhance it for future generations.
As a cornerstone of Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030, Red Sea Global is helping to transform the nation, creating significant economic opportunities for the people of Saudi Arabia and enhancing the Kingdom’s rich environmental and cultural heritage.
Red Sea Global is a NEBOSH Corporate Learning Partner that is accredited to deliver the NEBOSH International General Certificate in Occupational Health and Safety, the NEBOSH Health and Safety at Work Award and the NEBOSH HSE Certificate in Health and Safety Leadership Excellence qualifications. One of its in-house programmes has also recently achieved NEBOSH Endorsed status, reflecting the positive impact the training has on the organisation’s health and safety performance.
NEBOSH spoke to John Dunne, Group Head of Health and Safety at Red Sea Global. John Dunne brings more than 27 years of experience as a Health, Safety, and Environment professional from a diverse background in manufacturing, construction, engineering, consulting, and the military. He has worked across the Middle East, Hong Kong, the United States, Europe and Africa. John spent the first decade of his career in the UK’s Royal Navy, serving as a diver, bomb disposal specialist, and member of the Maritime Special Forces. He is a chartered member of the Institute of Occupational Safety and Health.
John, why did you choose NEBOSH for your health and safety training needs?
NEBOSH holds the same level of credibility and recognition in the Middle East as it does in the UK, which makes its qualifications highly attractive. Professionals looking to progress in the health and safety field here strongly value NEBOSH qualifications, especially the `NEBOSH General Certificate` because employers know they are relevant, reliable, and industry aligned. This reputation makes it very easy for me to encourage our employees, partners, and hospitality operator teams to enrol in NEBOSH programmes.
Red Sea Global operates not only as a property developer but, unusually, as the main contractor as well. Our teams are very hands-on, visiting construction sites daily. NEBOSH qualifications offer practical, applicable learning that directly supports our teams’ on-site activities.
Our organisation is developing some of the world’s most luxurious destinations featuring villas, hotels, golf courses, marinas, airports, and the infrastructure required to support high-end resorts. The scale of the project is enormous and once complete it will cater to the world’s experiential luxury travellers.
Why did you choose to deliver the NEBOSH HSE Certificate in Health and Safety Leadership Excellence qualification internally?
Any health and safety practitioner will tell you that without the commitment of an organisation’s senior leadership, achieving safety objectives becomes significantly more challenging. Organisations naturally prioritise what their leaders emphasise. One of our core messages at Red Sea Global is that safety is not just the responsibility of the health and safety team, it is a shared responsibility, and it makes good business sense. This principle is fully aligned with our safety slogan, ‘Safer Together’.
We introduced the NEBOSH HSE Certificate in Health and Safety Leadership Excellence internally to help embed this mindset. The qualification clearly demonstrates to senior managers the crucial role they play in shaping safety culture and highlights the behaviours and actions they need to model in order to positively influence health and safety across the organisation.
You have had your internal Accident Investigation course NEBOSH Endorsed; can you tell us a bit more about this?
Sadly, right now, accidents happen, and you don’t want to discover on the day of an incident that the person responsible for conducting the investigation lacks the skills or knowledge to handle it effectively. A proper investigation is essential to identifying root causes and preventing similar incidents from happening again.
Before launching the course, it was evident from the accident reports being submitted that many colleagues did not fully understand how to conduct an investigation. Reports were frequently returned two or three times for correction, which caused frustration and led to unnecessary delays and costs.
The main aim of creating the course was to ensure that everyone was fully familiar with Red Sea Global’s accident investigation procedures and properly trained to carry out investigations confidently and competently. We wanted a programme tailored to our processes while also ensuring it met a recognised standard. After reviewing our options, we found that NEBOSH was the best fit to endorse the course and confirm its quality and robustness.
How is the success of the Accident Investigation course measured in the workplace?
One of the key areas NEBOSH challenged us on was defining how we would measure the effectiveness of the course. We concluded that the most meaningful indicator would be a reduction in error rates on incident reports after the training. Fortunately, our reporting software allows us to track this data. Each month, we now generate dashboards showing the number and percentage of report rejections and reworks.
We’ve already seen a noticeable decrease in rejections, which means colleagues are no longer spending days revising and resubmitting their reports. Reports are completed more quickly, accepted sooner, and people can return to their duties without unnecessary delays.
As a direct outcome of the course, mistakes have significantly reduced, and we are now consistently meeting the deadlines outlined in our accident investigation procedure. Our workers have been upskilled, and they receive a NEBOSH Endorsed certificate upon successful completion, something they genuinely appreciate. The course also contributes to their CPD, as it includes a robust final assessment that validates their competency.
The programme has been extremely successful. Trainers enjoy delivering it, and participant feedback has been very positive. The only suggestion we consistently receive is to extend it to a three-day course to allow more time for practising interview techniques. For a health and safety course, this level of enthusiasm is remarkable, usually people are eager to rush out the door! It’s clear the course is achieving exactly what we intended.
What has it meant to you to get this training course NEBOSH endorsed?
I am in no doubt that having the training NEBOSH Endorsed has completely transformed how people perceive it. In this region, if individuals are given the choice between a standard internally developed course and a NEBOSH Endorsed one, they will always choose the NEBOSH option. The endorsement achieves two key things: it significantly increases the appeal of the training to our target audience, and it provides strong credibility.
The NEBOSH qualifications and Endorsed courses we deliver are enabling us to upskill our workforce at every level while clearly demonstrating our organisation’s commitment to health and safety.
You have had your internal Accident Investigation course NEBOSH Endorsed; can you tell us a bit more about this?
Sadly, right now, accidents happen, and you don’t want to discover on the day of an incident that the person responsible for conducting the investigation lacks the skills or knowledge to handle it effectively. A proper investigation is essential to identifying root causes and preventing similar incidents from happening again.Before launching the course, it was evident from the accident reports being submitted that many colleagues did not fully understand how to conduct an investigation. Reports were frequently returned two or three times for correction, which caused frustration and led to unnecessary delays and costs.The main aim of creating the course was to ensure that everyone was fully familiar with Red Sea Global’s accident investigation procedures and properly trained to carry out investigations confidently and competently. We wanted a programme tailored to our processes while also ensuring it met a recognised standard. After reviewing our options, we found that NEBOSH was the best fit to endorse the course and confirm its quality and robustness.
How is the success of the Accident Investigation course measured in the workplace?
One of the key areas NEBOSH challenged us on was defining how we would measure the effectiveness of the course. We concluded that the most meaningful indicator would be a reduction in error rates on incident reports after the training. Fortunately, our reporting software allows us to track this data. Each month, we now generate dashboards showing the number and percentage of report rejections and reworks.We’ve already seen a noticeable decrease in rejections, which means colleagues are no longer spending days revising and resubmitting their reports. Reports are completed more quickly, accepted sooner, and people can return to their duties without unnecessary delays.
As a direct outcome of the course, mistakes have significantly reduced, and we are now consistently meeting the deadlines outlined in our accident investigation procedure. Our workers have been upskilled, and they receive a NEBOSH Endorsed certificate upon successful completion, something they genuinely appreciate. The course also contributes to their CPD, as it includes a robust final assessment that validates their competency.The programme has been extremely successful. Trainers enjoy delivering it, and participant feedback has been very positive. The only suggestion we consistently receive is to extend it to a three-day course to allow more time for practising interview techniques. For a health and safety course, this level of enthusiasm is remarkable, usually people are eager to rush out the door! It’s clear the course is achieving exactly what we intended.
What has it meant to you to get this training course NEBOSH endorsed?
I am in no doubt that having the training NEBOSH Endorsed has completely transformed how people perceive it. In this region, if individuals are given the choice between a standard internally developed course and a NEBOSH Endorsed one, they will always choose the NEBOSH option. The endorsement achieves two key things: it significantly increases the appeal of the training to our target audience, and it provides strong credibility.The NEBOSH qualifications and Endorsed courses we deliver are enabling us to upskill our workforce at every level while clearly demonstrating our organisation’s commitment to health and safety.