In line with its unalloyed commitment to the overall wellness and health of workers in Qatar, the National Human Rights Committee (NHRC) recently launched a campaign to raise awareness about the impact of heat stress on workers’ rights to life and physical and mental health in the work environment.
The campaign aims to raise awareness of the importance of efforts by all stakeholders, foremost of which is the commitment of employers and workers to implement the legal decisions and legislation approved by the state regarding the prevention and prohibition of work in high-temperature places, which protect them from heat stress. This is mainly for workers in the construction, industry, and delivery services sectors, which would enhance the national progress in protecting the rights of expatriate workers and address any gaps that may prevent the provision of actual and complete protection.
The campaign comes on the heels of the summer work schedules launched by the Ministry of Labour (MoL) just before the beginning of the season. According to MoL, workers are prohibited from working in the morning period after 10am until 3:30pm in the afternoon for work that is performed in open outdoor workplaces and shaded places that are not equipped with appropriate ventilation, while workers return to work in the open outdoor workplaces in the evening period after 3:30pm.
The decision obligates companies and institutions that have work sites under direct sunlight to set a schedule specifying daily working hours in accordance with the provisions of the decision and to place the schedule in a conspicuous place that is easy for all workers to view.
As a country that prioritizes the wellbeing of its workers, Qatar has a comprehensive public healthcare provision, and human development is one of the pillars of Qatar’s National Vision 2030, one aspect of which is maintaining a healthy population, both physically and mentally. The National Vision states that Qatar aspires to develop an integrated system for health care managed according to world-class standards to meet the needs of existing and future generations.
Specifically, it refers to a continued commitment by the country to provide sufficient funds for maintaining the health of Qatar’s population in accordance with the principle of partnership in bearing the costs of health care.
Over the past few years, Qatar has been able to accumulate its human rights achievements aimed at ensuring human dignity and enjoyment of the right to a decent life based on the foundations of freedom, justice, equality, and tolerance.
Campaigns by the NHRC and other government entities over the past years have contributed to the realization of workers’ rights and, thus, the involvement of workers and employers in efforts to prevent heat stress.
With the latest efforts by the NHRC, Qatar is making another bold statement about ensuring safety for all in Qatar.
