The Ministry of Administrative Development, Labour and Social Affairs (MADLSA) announced yesterday the end of the period for determining working hours in open workplaces during the summer.
In a statement, the ministry urged business owners to continue spreading awareness and maintain occupational health and safety at work sites, taking into account the various conditions surrounding workplaces.
The ministry called on companies to create a work environment that helps mitigate the risks of heat stress that workers may be exposed to, and to develop joint plans with companies and workers to assess the risks of heat stress, mitigate its effects and update them periodically; while providing training for all workers on dealing with heat stress, and providing workers with all the needs that ensure an ideal and healthy work environment.
The Labour Inspection Department has implemented intensive inspection campaigns since the beginning of June, with the aim of ensuring that companies adhere to the specified times and the necessary precautions to protect workers from heat stress, including allocating shaded resting places that workers can access easily and are effective in protecting from sunlight and high temperatures while resting; and the provision of appropriate personal protective equipment for hot weather and appropriate work clothes in order to prevent the risk of heat stress.
The field visits conducted by the ministry’s inspectors to work sites from June until Sept 15 resulted in inspecting the violations of 338 companies, most of which work in the contracting sector in various regions of the country.
