Annie Browne, the founder of Health and Safety Solutions, began her career as a nurse in an accident and emergency ward. Anna Nielsen for The National
Annie Browne, the founder of Health and Safety Solutions, began her career as a nurse in an accident and emergency ward. Anna Nielsen for The National
Annie Browne, the founder of Health and Safety Solutions, began her career as a nurse in an accident and emergency ward. Anna Nielsen for The National
Annie Browne, the founder of Health and Safety Solutions, began her career as a nurse in an accident and emergency ward. Anna Nielsen for The National

Day in the life: Health and Safety Solutions founder a real lifesaver in Dubai


  • English
  • Arabic

Annie Browne is the founder of Health and Safety Solutions (HSS) – a Dubai-based training and consultants company. HSS offers first-aid courses for nannies and maids, and health and safety training for businesses. The Briton, 64, began her career as a nurse in accident and emergency, then trained as a teacher and subsequently started her own first aid and safety training company in the UK. After moving to Dubai in 2008, Ms Browne founded HSS in 2011. Ms Browne, who lives in Jebel Ali Village, has pledged to train 500 parents and nannies in first aid by August.

7am

I wake up, have a cup of tea and then walk my dog, Bruno Mars, for 45 minutes. While I walk, I listen to audio books. I've always been an avid reader, but sometimes it's nice to have a story read to you. I recently enjoyed listening to The Chimp Paradox: The Mind Management Program To Help You Achieve Success, Confidence and Happiness by Steve Peters. When I get home, I shower and have breakfast – porridge with condensed milk.

8.30am

I leave for the office, which is located in Business Bay and has a lovely view of the Burj Khalifa. I have a 10-minute round-up with the team, which is led by one of my instructors. I then check my calendar to see what’s happening this week. I currently employ 10 people, including four trainers and a health and safety specialist.

9.30am

There’s a training session scheduled in the office, so the attendees start to arrive. Sometimes I lead the sessions, which I love; it’s important for the team to see how I train. When I first came to Dubai I landed a job as a health and safety consultant with Fitness First. In 2011, I started HSS and I’m proud of the work we’ve done. We’re raising the level of first-aid training in the UAE to a standard I’m really happy with. In the past three years, students of ours have resuscitated 12 people.

10:30am

If I’m not training, I head out to meet clients. Recently I’ve met teachers and headmasters at schools. I’ve developed a new programme called For Future Doctors, Nurses and Paramedics, and I’m hoping to bring this into schools to teach children first aid, from five-year-olds right through to school leavers.

12pm

I attend a mums’ group at BabySenses in JLT to talk about first-aid training for parents, maids and nannies. I also put together little workshops to teach them an element of first aid, such as how to deal with choking. Through attending these groups, I came up with the idea to train 200 maids in a first-aid training event in Dubai. We’re still in the planning stages, but I want the nannies and maids to attend for free. There will be 12 stations with instructors, and the attendees will move around and be trained on each first-aid element. At the end they’ll be tested and if they pass, they’ll obtain a qualification. My mission is to raise awareness – first-aid training should be compulsory for maids and nannies who want to work with kids. It costs Dh350 to train a nanny – less than the cost of an evening out.

1.30pm

I meet up with a team from Fitness First for lunch. I still do fire drill training and health and safety audits at the company’s ladies’ clubs.

3pm

Back at the office, I check emails; I try to do this only twice a day. I then have a final meeting with the team to wrap up the afternoon. The best part of my job is seeing people's reaction when I teach CPR to Flo Rida's song Low – it helps students get the compressions done at the right pace, depth and rate. One gentleman I trained told me that thinking about the song kept him focused when he was resuscitating someone. I believe if you get the serious messages across in a fun way, people learn better. I also enjoy our events with medics – we go on site at various sports events and on movie sets to deliver first-aid treatment and care for people. Some movies we've worked on include Furious 7 and Star Wars. I had the privilege of looking after six Stormtroopers in 49-degree heat – I'm pleased to say that not one went down with dehydration or heat exhaustion.

6pm

I arrive home, feed the dog and go for another walk. I also visit my son and his wife, as they live just around the corner. We have a cup of tea together and catch up on family time. I’m very close to my family. I have three sons in total – another living in Dubai and one in England.

7.30pm

I make a bowl of home-made soup for dinner, then chill out and watch a movie.

10.30pm

I go to sleep. My dog loves to wake me up at 7am on the dot every morning, so an early night is necessary. I also have two cats – Holly and Marley – that I rescued in Al Rashidiya.

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The five pillars of Islam

1. Fasting

2. Prayer

3. Hajj

4. Shahada

5. Zakat 

MOUNTAINHEAD REVIEW

Starring: Ramy Youssef, Steve Carell, Jason Schwartzman

Director: Jesse Armstrong

Rating: 3.5/5

SPECS

Engine: Two-litre four-cylinder turbo
Power: 235hp
Torque: 350Nm
Transmission: Nine-speed automatic
Price: From Dh167,500 ($45,000)
On sale: Now

Disclaimer

Director: Alfonso Cuaron 

Stars: Cate Blanchett, Kevin Kline, Lesley Manville 

Rating: 4/5

UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Defence review at a glance

• Increase defence spending to 2.5% of GDP by 2027 but given “turbulent times it may be necessary to go faster”

• Prioritise a shift towards working with AI and autonomous systems

• Invest in the resilience of military space systems.

• Number of active reserves should be increased by 20%

• More F-35 fighter jets required in the next decade

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Key facilities
  • Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
  • Premier League-standard football pitch
  • 400m Olympic running track
  • NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
  • 600-seat auditorium
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  • An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
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Libya's Gold

UN Panel of Experts found regime secretly sold a fifth of the country's gold reserves. 

The panel’s 2017 report followed a trail to West Africa where large sums of cash and gold were hidden by Abdullah Al Senussi, Qaddafi’s former intelligence chief, in 2011.

Cases filled with cash that was said to amount to $560m in 100 dollar notes, that was kept by a group of Libyans in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso.

A second stash was said to have been held in Accra, Ghana, inside boxes at the local offices of an international human rights organisation based in France.

 

Company: Instabug

Founded: 2013

Based: Egypt, Cairo

Sector: IT

Employees: 100

Stage: Series A

Investors: Flat6Labs, Accel, Y Combinator and angel investors

The specs

Engine: 1.5-litre 4-cylinder petrol

Power: 154bhp

Torque: 250Nm

Transmission: 7-speed automatic with 8-speed sports option 

Price: From Dh79,600

On sale: Now

The Bio

Hometown: Bogota, Colombia
Favourite place to relax in UAE: the desert around Al Mleiha in Sharjah or the eastern mangroves in Abu Dhabi
The one book everyone should read: 100 Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez. It will make your mind fly
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%3Cp%3EThe%20Royal%20Navy%20raid%20is%20the%20latest%20in%20a%20series%20of%20successful%20interceptions%20of%20drugs%20and%20arms%20in%20the%20Gulf%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EMay%2011%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EUS%20coastguard%20recovers%20%2480%20million%20heroin%20haul%20from%20fishing%20vessel%20in%20Gulf%20of%20Oman%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EMay%208%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20US%20coastguard%20vessel%20USCGC%20Glen%20Harris%20seizes%20heroin%20and%20meth%20worth%20more%20than%20%2430%20million%20from%20a%20fishing%20boat%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EMarch%202%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Anti-tank%20guided%20missiles%20and%20missile%20components%20seized%20by%20HMS%20Lancaster%20from%20a%20small%20boat%20travelling%20from%20Iran%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EOctober%209%2C%202022%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3ERoyal%20Navy%20frigate%20HMS%20Montrose%20recovers%20drugs%20worth%20%2417.8%20million%20from%20a%20dhow%20in%20Arabian%20Sea%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3ESeptember%2027%2C%202022%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20US%20Naval%20Forces%20Central%20Command%20reports%20a%20find%20of%202.4%20tonnes%20of%20heroin%20on%20board%20fishing%20boat%20in%20Gulf%20of%20Oman%C2%A0%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
Specs%20
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UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Day 1, Abu Dhabi Test: At a glance

Moment of the day Dimuth Karunaratne had batted with plenty of pluck, and no little skill, in getting to within seven runs of a first-day century. Then, while he ran what he thought was a comfortable single to mid-on, his batting partner Dinesh Chandimal opted to stay at home. The opener was run out by the length of the pitch.

Stat of the day - 1 One six was hit on Day 1. The boundary was only breached 18 times in total over the course of the 90 overs. When it did arrive, the lone six was a thing of beauty, as Niroshan Dickwella effortlessly clipped Mohammed Amir over the square-leg boundary.

The verdict Three wickets down at lunch, on a featherbed wicket having won the toss, and Sri Lanka’s fragile confidence must have been waning. Then Karunaratne and Chandimal's alliance of precisely 100 gave them a foothold in the match. Dickwella’s free-spirited strokeplay meant the Sri Lankans were handily placed at 227 for four at the close.

Indoor cricket in a nutshell

Indoor Cricket World Cup – Sep 16-20, Insportz, Dubai

16 Indoor cricket matches are 16 overs per side

8 There are eight players per team

There have been nine Indoor Cricket World Cups for men. Australia have won every one.

5 Five runs are deducted from the score when a wickets falls

Batsmen bat in pairs, facing four overs per partnership

Scoring In indoor cricket, runs are scored by way of both physical and bonus runs. Physical runs are scored by both batsmen completing a run from one crease to the other. Bonus runs are scored when the ball hits a net in different zones, but only when at least one physical run is score.

Zones

A Front net, behind the striker and wicketkeeper: 0 runs

B Side nets, between the striker and halfway down the pitch: 1 run

Side nets between halfway and the bowlers end: 2 runs

Back net: 4 runs on the bounce, 6 runs on the full

The specs

Engine: 3-litre twin-turbo V6

Power: 400hp

Torque: 475Nm

Transmission: 9-speed automatic

Price: From Dh215,900

On sale: Now

Real estate tokenisation project

Dubai launched the pilot phase of its real estate tokenisation project last month.

The initiative focuses on converting real estate assets into digital tokens recorded on blockchain technology and helps in streamlining the process of buying, selling and investing, the Dubai Land Department said.

Dubai’s real estate tokenisation market is projected to reach Dh60 billion ($16.33 billion) by 2033, representing 7 per cent of the emirate’s total property transactions, according to the DLD.

THE SPECS

Engine: 1.5-litre turbocharged four-cylinder

Transmission: Constant Variable (CVT)

Power: 141bhp 

Torque: 250Nm 

Price: Dh64,500

On sale: Now

The Settlers

Director: Louis Theroux

Starring: Daniella Weiss, Ari Abramowitz

Rating: 5/5

Squad

Ali Kasheif, Salim Rashid, Khalifa Al Hammadi, Khalfan Mubarak, Ali Mabkhout, Omar Abdulrahman, Mohammed Al Attas, Abdullah Ramadan, Zayed Al Ameri (Al Jazira), Mohammed Al Shamsi, Hamdan Al Kamali, Mohammed Barghash, Khalil Al Hammadi (Al Wahda), Khalid Essa, Mohammed Shaker, Ahmed Barman, Bandar Al Ahbabi (Al Ain), Al Hassan Saleh, Majid Suroor (Sharjah) Walid Abbas, Ahmed Khalil (Shabab Al Ahli), Tariq Ahmed, Jasim Yaqoub (Al Nasr), Ali Saleh, Ali Salmeen (Al Wasl), Hassan Al Muharami (Baniyas) 

Joker: Folie a Deux

Starring: Joaquin Phoenix, Lady Gaga, Brendan Gleeson

Director: Todd Phillips 

Rating: 2/5