RIYADH, 4 August 2007 — As summertime temperatures in many cities of Saudi Arabia surge above 50C (122F), the Human Rights Commission (HRC), Saudi Arabia’s governmental human rights organization, has urged the Labor Ministry to issue directives to employers to prevent laborers from working in the dangerously heated mid-day conditions. HRC officials say that record high temperature in some parts of the Kingdom this summer makes these directives more important.
“The HRC is confident that a special directive should be issued by the Labor Ministry that forbids working outside during midday,” said HRC spokesman Zuhair Al-Harthi.
According to Saudi meteorologist Khaled Al-Zaag, certain areas of the Kingdom, such as central Qasim province north of Riyadh, have recorded the highest temperatures in 54 years. The city of Buraidah, for example, recorded 53C (127F) at 3 p.m. last Monday in the shade and 65C (149F) in the sun.
The HRC official urged yesterday public and private institutions across the Kingdom to take extra measures to protect their laborers from being exposed to extreme heat by working in the intense Saudi sun, which violates labor laws in the Kingdom as well as human rights.
“At a time when temperatures peaking, we want these institutions realize their responsibilities toward their laborers by not instructing them to work during times of extreme heat,” he said.
Al-Harthi noted that the HRC President Turki Al-Sudairi as well as the board members of the rights body addressed this issue many times previously and cited an article in the Labor Law which specifies that laborers brought into the Kingdom be made aware of its geography, working conditions and weather conditions.
“Article No. 122 of the Labor Law clearly specifies that every business take appropriate measures to protect laborers,” he said.
The article, he added, also mentions that banners or signs must be put up at workplaces in Arabic and other languages understood by laborers warning them of the dangers of strenuous work in high temperatures and the need to be adequately hydrated to avoid potentially fatal heat exhaustion.
He also said that employers had no right to demand cost from laborers’ wages to facilitate this.
The Saudi government doesn’t specifically track the number of fatalities pertaining to heat exhaustion among foreign laborers.
