ADOSH-SF / OSHAD-SF Compliance Software for Abu Dhabi Contractors
The Abu Dhabi OSH framework asks entities to run a management system and prove it — including the OSH performance of their subcontractors. BasinCheck captures that evidence at the point of work, offline.
Written by Jacob Szyszka, Founder of BasinCheck. Framework detail on this page is drawn from documents published by ADPHC, not from third-party summaries.
How the Framework Is Actually Built
It is not one document. Understanding the four layers tells you which obligations are yours and which auditor is going to ask about them.
The framework's Elements define what an entity's OSH management system must contain — including Element 3, Management of Contractors, which is where prequalification, competency verification, induction, and ongoing performance monitoring of subcontractors sit.
Topic-specific documents with prescriptive requirements, published individually and numbered — for example CoP 1.1 on the management of asbestos, CoP 15 on electrical safety, and CoP 53 on OSH construction management plans. Each applicable CoP is a standalone compliance obligation.
Supporting guidance published alongside the framework, including guidance on audit and inspection. This is the material that shapes what an auditor expects to see when they arrive.
Enforcement is delegated to Sector Regulatory Authorities under the Emirate's OSH decree (Decree No. 42 of 2009). Energy-sector work answers to the sector regulator for energy rather than to a single central inspectorate — confirm which SRA covers your scope of work.
Check your source before you check your compliance
The framework's acronym was updated from OSHAD-SF to ADOSH-SF, and the administering body changed from the Abu Dhabi Occupational Safety and Health Centre (OSHAD) to the Abu Dhabi Public Health Centre (ADPHC).
A lot of the guidance circulating online has not kept up — and some of it is wrong in ways that matter. Articles commonly state a Code of Practice count far lower than what is actually published, and mis-attribute topics to CoP numbers. The published Codes run well past the commonly quoted figure: CoP 15 is electrical safety, and CoP 53 covers OSH construction management plans.
If a summary is your compliance basis, verify it against the documents ADPHC publishes — including the framework manual and the audit and inspection technical guideline.
View the published framework updatesFour Places an Audit Gets Specific
Procedures pass a desk review. These four areas are where an auditor asks for a named date, a named site, and a named subcontractor.
Entities are expected to audit their own OSH management system on a defined cycle using competent auditors. An internal audit that produces findings but no closure record is worse than none — it documents that you knew.
Host entities and principal contractors are accountable for the OSH performance of their supply chain. That means prequalification records, competency verification, inductions, and periodic performance review you can actually produce per subcontractor.
Hot work, confined space entry, work at height, excavation, and energised work all carry permit and isolation controls. The audit question is rarely whether you have a permit form — it's whether the issued permits, gas tests, and closures are retrievable for a given date and location.
Incidents must be notified through the required channels and investigated, with root causes and corrective actions recorded. Facts captured at the time hold up; facts reconstructed a fortnight later do not.
One Crew, Several Rulebooks
Regional contractors routinely carry an Emirate framework obligation, a client management system obligation, and a cross-border one.
Abu Dhabi
The Abu Dhabi Occupational Safety and Health System Framework applies to entities operating in the Emirate. It is managed by the Abu Dhabi Public Health Centre (ADPHC), which was previously the Abu Dhabi Occupational Safety and Health Centre (OSHAD).
ADNOC supply chain
Contractors working for ADNOC group companies also work to ADNOC's own HSE management system and standards, which sit on top of the Emirate framework rather than replacing it. Two audit regimes, one set of underlying field records.
Dubai and other Emirates
Other Emirates operate their own HSE systems and municipality requirements. A UAE-wide contractor may face different documentation expectations per Emirate, which is an argument for one system of record rather than per-client spreadsheets.
Saudi Arabia
Saudi Aramco applies its own contractor safety requirements and audit regime alongside national labour and industrial security rules. Contractors moving between Saudi and UAE work typically maintain overlapping evidence sets covering the same field activities.
Five Steps to Audit-Ready
The work is the same everywhere: make the management system provable at the level of a specific day and a specific site.
Confirm which authority and which documents apply
Identify your Sector Regulatory Authority and the specific Codes of Practice relevant to your scope. Working from a third-party summary rather than the published documents is how entities discover a gap during an inspection.
Map your OSHMS to the framework Elements
Go Element by Element and note where you hold real records versus where you hold a procedure describing records you do not have.
Digitise the field records first
Inspections, permits, gas tests, toolbox talks, and plant checks are the evidence base for almost every other requirement. Capture them at the point of work with timestamps and photos.
Make subcontractor evidence separable
You need to answer questions about a specific subcontractor on a specific project. Structure records so contractor performance can be pulled out on its own.
Run your internal audit as a retrieval drill
Pick a date, a location, and a permit type. If producing the matching records takes more than ten minutes, an external audit will find the same friction.
Offline by design
Remote sites and desert locations included. Permits, inspections, photos, and signatures work with no connection.
Corrective actions with closure proof
Findings carry an owner, a due date, and evidence of closure — the part internal audits usually cannot demonstrate.
Subcontractor records, separable
Pull one subcontractor's inspections, incidents, and actions without unpicking the whole project.
Permit history you can search
Issued permits, gas tests, and closures retrievable by date, location, and permit type.
Frequently Asked Questions
Framework, naming, and fit questions from UAE and regional contractors.
Disclaimer: This page is educational and is not legal advice. The framework, its Codes of Practice, and the delegation of enforcement to Sector Regulatory Authorities are subject to change. Verify your obligations against the documents published by ADPHC and with your Sector Regulatory Authority before making compliance decisions.
Content maintenance: last checked against ADPHC framework documents and published V4.0 update notes on July 25, 2026.
Capture the Field Record Once
Permits, inspections, incidents, and contractor performance in one system — reportable into whichever audit regime is asking this quarter.
Related: Permit to Work · Safety Audit Guide · Corrective Action Tracking · Offline Safety App · Pricing