Qatar joins the international community today in marking the World Day for Safety and Health at Work with an aim to address challenge of an outbreak of infectious diseases at work, focusing on the COVID-19 pandemic.
The annual World Day for Safety and Health at Work, marked on April 28, promotes the prevention of occupational accidents and diseases globally and this year the day is being marked under the theme ‘Stop the Pandemic: Safety and Health at Work Can Save Lives’.
Recognising the great challenge that governments, employers, workers and whole societies are facing worldwide to combat the COVID-19 pandemic, the World Day for Safety and Health at Work will focus on addressing the outbreak of infectious diseases at work, in particular, on the COVID-19 pandemic, the United Nations said on its website.
“The World Day for Safety and Health at Work will aim to stimulate national tripartite dialogue on safety and health at work. The ILO is using this day to raise awareness on the adoption of safe practices in workplaces and the role that occupational safety and health (OSH) services play. It will also focus on the medium to long-term, including recovery and future preparedness, in particular, integrating measures into OSH management systems and policies at the national and enterprise levels,” it adds.
With the spread of COVID-19 in the country, Qatar government took swift and decisive measures to curb its spread.
All the public and private sector organisations have ensured safeguarding workers from the viral infections through a number of necessary steps.
The Cabinet directed all organisations to have only 20 percent employees present at workplace while 80 percent staff was directed to work from home. The working hours for employees were also reduced and now wearing face masks at shopping centres, workplaces, construction sites has also been made mandatory along a number of other precautionary measures being adopted/implemented by all ministries and other public/private sector companies to protect workers’ safety and health.
Qatar General Electricity and Water Corporation (Kahramaa) completed about 40 million working hours without occupational diseases in 2019, including 33.7 million working hours in projects and 6.1 million working hours in services and tasks in the workplace, showing an excellent track record in the field of occupational safety and health.
Kahramaa took a number of precautionary measures and actions to curb the spread of COVID-19 at its headquarters and worksites. These measures come within the framework of Kahramaa’s keenness to follow and apply the highest health, safety and security standards in all its premises, activities and operations, in accordance with its commitment to achieving its goal of ensuring a safe and healthy work environment, Kahramaa said in a recent statement.
The interdepartmental committee at Kahamaa has taken a number of urgent measures to prevent and limit the spread of the COVID-19, including halting the use of the biometric scanners that require fingerprints to record the check-in and check-out of employees, and to use employee cards as an alternative to the fingerprint in order to curtail transmission sources of coronavirus.
Qatar University, the National Human Rights Committee (NHRC) and the General Directorate of Traffic have also taken a number of measures to protect their staff from contracting COVID-19.
The Director of General Services at Qatar University, Khaled Al Jabor, recently said that since the beginning of crisis, Qatar University has taken many steps in this regard, among them is stopping temporarily the work of many staff, including cleaning, hospitality, logistics and warehouse staff.
Al Jabor also said in short video posted on Qatar University website that student buses were fully sanitised from the very beginning of the crisis to avoid any problems. He further said that these measures include also distance learning, and the university also reduced the number of employees at the university to 20 percent in implementation of decisions taken by the State.
For its part, the National Human Rights Committee (NHRC), has reduced daily working hours to four for those who are present at the workplace of the committee’s headquarters. The Committee also launched its hotline (8002222) to ensure providing integrated and continuous services.
For safety and health at work, the General Directorate of Traffic has urged public to avail various services through Metrash2 app, in which more than 40 of its services are available. People no need to visit the department as most of the services are online, even all vehicles that are due for Istimarah (registration) renewal are now exempted from reporting to a FAHES centre for technical inspection.
The Public Works Authority (Ashghal) in coordination with the Ministry of Administrative Development, Labor and Social Affairs (MADLSA) has launched severe inspection campaigns at workplaces and labor accommodations to confirm the compliance of contracting companies in implementing the precautionary and preventive measures taken by Ashghal based on the directives of MADLSA.
These campaigns are part of the efforts exerted to protect workers involved in Ashghal projects from infection with the coronavirus (COVID-19).
The Khalifa Avenue project is one of the vital projects that achieved 79 million working hours without work time injuries.
Ashghal has assured that the project implementing companies are aware of the seriousness of the issue and make them aware of all preventive measures and procedures to minimize the spread of the virus, without affecting the workflow. These measures include regular and comprehensive washing of hands, making sterilization dispensers available to all by placing it in noticeable places around work areas, besides strict compliance with prevention of gathering and maintain social distance, the Authority said in a recently released statement.
The Public Works Authority has also implemented a number of precautionary measures based on the directives issued by the Ministry of Administrative Development, Labor and Social Affairs.
In the context of efforts taken by the Public Works Authority ‘Ashghal’ in limiting the spread of COVID-19, Ashghal’s Road Projects Department has also worked with its contractors and consultants to develop and implement an emergency plan that includes preventive measures to protect workers, employees and residents of the areas within the department projects.
The department directed contractors to divide workers in all housing and residence facilities into groups of up to 100 individuals, which helps in early detection of symptoms associated with COVID-19).
Moreover, Ashghal has taken several measures to stop the virus from spreading among workers in project sites, including reducing the number of workers using the buses in half and sanitising it regularly, and leaving sufficient distances between them on the bus, in dining halls and while on work sites. In addition, Ashghal regularly checks the availability of gloves, masks, and sanitising supplies at work sites and offices.
Qatar Ports Management Company (Mwani Qatar), in coordination with the Ministry of Public Health and relevant authorities, has implemented series of measures to limit the spread of coronavirus in the ports which are not only keeping the workforce safe, but are also ensure uninterrupted supply of goods in the country. Al Meera Consumer Goods Company has taken a number of steps following the state preventive and precautionary measures to curb the spread of COVID-19. Al Meera placed temperature screening devices and mounted sanitizers at its stores to protect the staffs and customers from coronavirus.
