Labour ministry warns of hot, humid weather affecting workers in next few days

The labour ministry’s labour inspection department on Tuesday released guidelines and suggestions for avoiding heat exhaustion at workplaces in coastal and/or inland areas as high temperatures and humidity levels are set to last for the next few days.

These conditions “may endanger employees whose work exposes them to heat exhaustion, and can seriously affect their health,” an announcement said.

The labour inspection department suggested that workplaces monitor air temperature and humidity levels so they can then adjust tasks, mandate more breaks or even pause works completely.

The announcement also said that a number of measures can be taken to limit heat exhaustion at work, like changing working hours so that heavy tasks are performed in the cooler hours of the day, or providing and/or creating a shady space where workers can rest multiple times a day, equipped with air conditioning or fans where possible.

More suggested measures are frequent shift swaps depending on the type of work, avoiding strenuous outdoor work during the hottest hours of the day where possible, and providing workers with drinking water.