Supporting Middle East drive for safety, standards, and innovation in lifting operations

The Middle East is experiencing unprecedented growth, driven by transformative projects across energy, infrastructure, and industry. As these sectors expand, there is a growing emphasis on safety, compliance, and innovation - particularly in lifting operations, where the risks and stakes are high. The Lifting Equipment Engineers Association (LEEA) plays a vital role in meeting these demands, ensuring that the highest standards are maintained across the region.

What sets LEEA apart is the intelligence and insights we gather from our extensive membership base, comprising more than 1,100 companies globally. This collaborative knowledge-sharing allows us to tailor our services and support, ensuring the lifting industry operates at the cutting edge of safety and compliance.

LEEA’s structure is designed to deliver our core services through three key directorates:

1. Compliance: Setting and maintaining high standards
   LEEA’s Compliance team ensures members adhere to the highest safety standards by working closely with policymakers and industry authorities, providing technical support, and offering tools like the LEEA Chatbot and COPSULE. All members undergo a rigorous, ongoing audit process to maintain compliance, ensuring they operate at the forefront of global lifting safety standards.
2. Academy: Empowering through education
   The LEEA Academy offers flexible, multilingual training through e-learning, virtual, and in-person courses, from Foundation to Advanced levels. We ensure our members’ workforce is equipped with the knowledge and skills necessary to meet global and local demands in the lifting industry.
3. Membership: Supporting and expanding the network
   LEEA’s membership directorate provides comprehensive support through audits, events like LiftEx, and regular industry communications. We actively engage with members by offering services that drive excellence, while continuously expanding our presence and fostering partnerships with key organisations and governments across the Middle East.

Supporting key members in major projects

As the Middle East continues its journey towards becoming a global industrial powerhouse, LEEA stands alongside key member organisations to ensure they have the tools, knowledge, and support needed to thrive. Saudi Aramco has been a long-standing member of LEEA, utilising our expertise to enhance safety in lifting operations for their vast network.

In a similar vein, Qatar Energy, is working with LEEA to ensure its lifting operations adhere to the highest standards of safety and operational excellence. Our membership with ALBA and BAPCO underpins the diversity of industries benefiting from LEEA’s involvement. Both companies, pillars of Bahrain’s industrial landscape, depend on safe and efficient lifting practices to maintain their operations and drive growth. LEEA helps to ensure their personnel are fully equipped to handle the unique challenges of heavy lifting in high-risk environments.

Working with governments on localisation initiatives

LEEA is actively supporting government efforts across the Middle East to localise skills and expertise in the lifting industry, ensuring safety and compliance in key sectors. In Saudi Arabia, LEEA collaborates with the Saudi Arabia Accreditation Centre (SAAC) to align with Vision 2030, supporting oil, gas, and infrastructure growth through technical documentation, training, and best practices.

In Bahrain, LEEA is developing a relationship with the Ministry of Labour and in Iraq, LEEA works with the Ministry of Oil and Gas, enhancing safety and training standards for the expanding oil sector.

In Qatar, Ashgal’s infrastructure projects are supported by LEEA, ensuring their workforce meets global lifting standards. These partnerships illustrate LEEA’s commitment to fostering local expertise and driving long-term sustainability in the region’s lifting industry.

LEEA’s role in the future of the region

The Middle East’s economic vision is deeply tied to building a robust and sustainable workforce that can support the region’s ambitious projects. LEEA’s role in this vision is clear: we are here to ensure that lifting operations are safe, compliant, and at the forefront of global innovation.

Our history is in working with firms who test and inspect equipment, but we now support organisations right across the lifting equipment and height safety footprint. Functions of our members include; design, manufacture, distribution, inspection, repair and sales. In short, any company who is involved in placing product or service on the marketplace is invited to become a member of LEEA.

LEEA is helping to localise expertise and ensure that the Middle East’s lifting industry is not only prepared for today’s challenges, but is also well-positioned to lead the world in safety, efficiency, and innovation. LEEA is proud to be a part of the region’s journey toward a safer, more prosperous future.