RIYADH, 16 June 2007 — The Riyadh Municipality has issued a stern warning to people working in places such as salons, laundries, fast food outlets, fish markets, butchers and restaurants not to obtain fake employment certificates from con men, who issue them on their doorsteps for an exorbitant price.
“Workers who are found with fake certificates will face stiff penalties and their workplaces will be shut down by the municipality,” Soliman Al-Buthi, general manager of the Environmental Health Department at the Riyadh Municipality, told Arab News yesterday.
People who work in such places come under the direct supervision of the Riyadh Municipality and are obliged to obtain employment certificates yearly or biannually from the Environmental Health Department at the municipality. The system has been established to ensure workers are perfectly healthy to serve the public.
“These certificates are issued free-of-charge by the municipality on production of a valid iqama, a letter from one’s sponsor and a health certificate from a recognized medical clinic,” Al-Buthi said, adding that the certificates are issued within 45 minutes at the Environmental Health Department.
Al-Buthi said that agents are known to approach workers telling them that they are able to obtain certificates without the hassles of going through the official process.
“They issue them certificates there and then, and extract fancy sums from their customers,” he said, adding that a worker, who may not be well, would buy a fake certificate fearing he may lose his job if he goes through the proper channels.
The manager also said that his department also conducts random health checks on workers, who come to obtain their employment certificates daily.
“We have a fully equipped laboratory for the purpose and random tests conducted at the laboratory have revealed that 30 percent of applicants submit false medical reports,” he said.
Al-Buthi has called on the public to cooperate with the department by informing them of people selling fake certificates and unhealthy workers by telephoning 940. He added that the Environmental Health Department annually issues over 100,000 employment certificates to people working such jobs. Twenty percent of these people include Saudis working in major establishments.
The Riyadh municipality supervises some 86,000 establishments, which include 35,000 fast food outlets, 11,000 groceries, 23,000 restaurants, 8,000 salons, 5,000 laundries, 3,800 bakeries, 500 factories and 300 hotels.
Al-Buthi added that his department has a team of 200 inspectors who regularly visit such establishments.
During the first quarter of the Islamic year, inspections have resulted in the seizure of 230kgs of food unfit for human consumption, the closure of 202 barber shops and the confiscation of 11,200 unhygienic instruments used in salons.
