232 sites closed in June for violating summer work rule

The Labour Inspection Department at the Ministry of Administrative Development, Labour and Social Affairs, has carried out intensive inspection campaigns during June, with the aim of ensuring that companies comply with Ministerial Resolution No. (17) for the year 2021, regarding the necessary precautions to protect workers from heat stress in open work sites during the summer period. Under this rule, workers cannot work outside, under the sun or in open workspaces, between 10am and 3.30pm from June 1 to 15th September.The Ministry said that the field visits carried out by its inspectors on the work sites during the period from June 1 to 30, resulted in the closure of 232 work sites for a period of three days, noting that most of the violating companies work in the contracting sector.The decision obliges companies and institutions that have workplaces under direct sunlight to display a schedule specifying the daily working hours in accordance with the provisions of the decision, at a place that is easy for all workers to see and for the Ministry's inspectors to observe during their inspection visits to the workplace. In addition, employers have to provide air-conditioned spaces for the workers' comfort, chilled drinking water and light clothing. Workers have to be allotted rest periods at regular intervals in order to protect them from the risk of heat stress.The Ministry of Administrative Development, Labour and Social Affairs called on all companies in different sectors to respect the Ministerial Decision in order to avoid the workplace's partial or total closure. (QNA)