Doha: Labour Ministry following its inspection campaigns on work sites orders closure of 106 company sites for violating the decision to set working hours in open places
Ministry of Administrative Development, Labour and Social Affairs, represented by the Labor Inspection Department, conducted intensive inspection campaigns during the month of July.
The field visits carried out by the Ministry’s inspectors at work sites during the period from July 1 to 31 resulted in a violation of 106 companies, most of which work in the contracting sector in various parts of the country, which resulted in the closure of work sites for a period of three days. The Ministry had closed 232 worksites during the month of June for not adhering to the necessary precautions.
The inspections are carried out to ensure that companies adhere to Ministerial Resolution No. (17) of 2021 regarding the necessary precautions to protect workers from heat stress in open work sites during the summer period. The decision determines the working hours for work performed under the sun or in open workplaces and in places other than shaded and ventilated workplaces, during the period from June 1 to September 15 of each year, so that it is not permissible to start work between 10am to 3:30pm.
In this context, companies must abide by Ministerial Resolution No. (17) of 2021, and the employer must put a schedule for workers in a visible place showing the daily working hours in accordance with the provisions of this decision, and in a way that labor inspectors can observe during their inspection visits.
It also requires employers to provide an appropriate work environment for workers by providing free drinking water to all workers at an appropriate degree throughout the work period, and allocating shaded resting places that are easily accessible to workers, and that are effective in protecting against sunlight and high temperatures when resting, while providing workers with personal protective equipment suitable for the weather. Warm clothes, including light, loose-fitting clothes, to protect them from the risk of heat stress.
From this point of view, the Ministry of Administrative Development, Labor and Social Affairs called upon all companies in various sectors to abide by the ministerial decision, so that the workplace is not subjected to partial or total closure, due to non-compliance with the precautions that must be provided to protect workers from heat stress at work sites during the summer, whether for work performed under the sun or in outdoor workspaces.