Nearly four dozen companies have had their construction sites temporarily closed for flouting the midday outdoor work ban, the Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs (MOLSA) has said.
In a statement on its Facebook page last night, MOLSA said that 42 of the 475 sites that were inspected since June 15 were observed in violation of the ban.
During Qatar’s summer, temperatures regularly exceed 40C.
According to ministerial decree No. 16 for the year 2007, those who work outdoors or directly under the sun should only work for five hours during the day and should take a break from 11:30am until 3pm from June 15 until Aug. 31.
The law also states that the employer should post a notice outlining the daily working hours for its staff.
Early last month, MOLSA warned of penalties for companies whose workers were found on duty during the middle of the day, saying they could be closed for up to one month. It continued:
“Employers must place the working hours’ timetable at the work place, according to the decree. The timetable should be in a visible place where all workers can see and labor inspectors can easily notice during their inspection visits.”
MOLSA also listed a hotline for people to call in case they spot violations: 44241101.
Sweltering weather
This year is set to be one of Qatar’s hottest on record.
While some companies have changed their employees’ working hours, workers can still be observed toiling outdoors during the sweltering afternoon hours at some construction sites.
To help them cope with the heat outside the restricted hours of the summer months, more construction companies have been exploring the idea of incorporating high-tech cooling gear into uniforms.
Thoughts?
Well done to the Ministry
Great move! But this not even 1/3 of the whole. Nonetheless, you did what’s right for them!
Well done Molsa saving even few humans from those evil employers is almost saving entire humanity keep up with the good work
I can’t believe someone would make people work in this heat. Today I had to to go out to store. In just those 5 minutes of walking from the parking lot to the mall entrance I was sweating in a pool of sweat and I felt like half of my energy had been drained.
I can only imagine how much more hot and tired these poor workers are. Maybe a punishment should be handed out to these violators where the managers have to sit outside in the sun after dhur prayer so they feel what these workers go through.
There really needs to be a proper Union for construction workers. If there was a proper Union in place these things wouldn’t happen because the companies would know that a worker can easily go to their union committee and sue them.
Kudos to the ministry for shutting these oppressors down.
Well done to the ministry. Maybe as a form of punishment they could make the supervisors and owners of the company pick up huge rocks move them 10m, put them down and then pick them up and move them back to where they started. Do this for an hour in the midday sun and you will soon see big changes.
Umm? Isn’t that exactly what they make the laborers do?
Exactly. Let them see how they like it.
“Closed for up to a month”… so some maybe closed for a week or a day?
This law has existed for at least a few years now. When almost 10 percent of the sites are in violation, it tells you that the punishment isn’t strong enough. Companies don’t seem to care about punishment or the welfare of their workers. I wish they would name and shame!
Ahh some high tech work uniforms, awesome, no doubt worth more than the worker makes each month. How about some high tech accomodation, with kettles, working stoves, amazing new tech microwave, flushing toilets, clean running water, air conditioning, TV, radio.
Good to see regulation and enforcement here and in the food sector … Why oh why can’t it be done on the roads ? There is no logic and no excuse … I’m sure there are reasons but none that justify turning a blind eye to the daily tumult of horrific driving on Dohas insane roads.
Great that the government is coming down on the violators. Just wish more of the workers had the courage/knowledge to call the hotline (no pun intended)!
Yeah.. atleast they are finally waking up to the abuses but this is just a tiny fraction of what they have not yet found or come across
Shutting them down is not the solution. They should be heavily penalized and held criminally responsible for abusing the workers
The only solutions are for these companies to be heavily fined and for those workers to learn to say no and enough is enough!
Well done to the ministry but please someone tell me that the workers will still be paid for the shut down time. Somehow I don’t think they will.
http://www.businessinsider.com/the-top-20-countries-ranked-by-reputation-2015-7
The high tech cooling gear being mentioned works on the simple principle of evaporation. It is not really high tech involving any complex technology.
For more details and reading about the technology you can visit http://www.techniche-intl.qa