Labour Ministry guide to protect workers from heat stress

Minister of Administrative Development, Labour and Social Affairs H E Yousuf bin Mohammed Al Othman Fakhro has said that the Ministry in cooperation with the International Labor Organization (ILO) and the participation of the designated state authorities prepared a guide on protection from heat stress.

He noted that the guide has a number of tips and requirements that any place must have in order to protect workers from the dangers of heat, and to ensure that they can carry out their work at the required productivity level in all fields whether industrial, construction, and agricultural.

The Minister highlighted the State of Qatar’s commitment to occupational safety and health, evident in the comprehensive policies and strategies it introduced to reduce accidents, injuries and work-related diseases.

This came during the speech of the Minister at the opening of the Occupational Safety and Health Conference, organised by the Ministry in cooperation with the Ministry of Public Health and the International Labor Organization to celebrate the occupational safety and health month.

Dozens of companies and government entities participated in the latter event throughout April. Addressing the event, Director of the Public Health Department at the Ministry of Public Health, Sheikh Dr Mohamed bin Hamad Al Thani, said that Qatar works in a proactive and effective way to avoid injuries and deaths in the workplace, pointing out that the death rate of workers in the country is 1.6 per 100,000 workers, less than half the proportion in the US.

He said occupational health is one of the areas of public health strategy (2017-2022), which aims to reduce the number of injuries and deaths in the workplace to less than one worker per 100,000 people, in cooperation with the concerned authorities in the state.

He said the health system in the State of Qatar is currently ranked fifth in the list of the best health systems in the world, and ranking the first in the Middle East, according to Legatum Institute 2019, which is measuring and classification of health status in 149 countries.

Chairman of Qatar Chamber Sheikh Khalifa bin Jassim bin Mohammed Al Thani, said that Qatar Chamber has cooperated with the official authorities in the State to develop legislation and laws that have contributed to improving the standards of living and safety of workers.

Dr Sheikh Khalifa praised the efforts exerted by those who work on all the establishments operating in the State, their keenness to adhere to the rights of workers in the various State projects and to ensure a decent standard of living for them at all times. The Director of International Standards Department at ILO said the role of the Ministry of Administrative Development, Labour and Social Affairs and its constant cooperation with the

Organization and the relevant authorities locally and internationally to promote occupational safety and health. The Vice-President of the International Federation of Building and Wood Workers (BWI) said that Qatar has made significant progress in improving working conditions, especially in the World Cup projects and in housing, providing training courses, conducting inspection campaigns to achieve safety of workers and finding mechanisms to help improve their safety.