Ministry launches study on impact of occupational heat stress

Doha: The Ministry of Administrative Development, Labor and Social Affairs began a study on the impact of occupational heat stress on productivity in various sites in Qatar. The study is conducted in cooperation with World Labor Organization, Supreme Committee for Delivery and Legacy (SC) and will look to place a strategic framework that helps companies evaluate the occupational heat stress risks as well as the appropriate way of alleviating it.

Assistant Undersecretary for Labor Affairs at the Ministry of Administrative Development, Labor and Social Affairs (MADLSA), Mohamed Hassan Al Obaidli said that the protection of labor from the risks they face is the state’s moral duty towards them. He added that the rise in summer temperatures in the GCC is one of the risks that the state focused on placing the appropriate policies to address. He stressed that the study they are about to undertake will be one of the most valuable in terms of providing insight to the necessary measures that need to be taken to protect workers.

The two-months study will be carried out by the University of Thessaly’s FAME Laboratory in Greece. It will focus especially on the planning and construction sectors, in addition to a number of sites related to the World Cup 2022. The SC’s projects undertook a number of techniques to tackle occupational heat stress, most prominently the cooling technology that is used in all of its sites.

For his part, the director of ILO Project Office for Qatar said that there is no clear consensus on the best methods of addressing occupational heat stress. He welcomed the study, saying it is a new contribution in that regard.