‘Noon ban’ to include food delivery workers, ice-cream, street vendors
Teams issue 24 warnings to workers for flouting ban
KUWAIT CITY, July 8: The head of the Occupational Safety and Labor Welfare Department in the Capital Governorate, Ali Safar said the department in coordination with three other government agencies plans to ban food delivery workers, street vendors, and ‘ice-cream carts’ and even delivery trucks from road during the peak of the heat to bring them in line with other workers who are barred from working under direct heat of the sun from 11:00 am to 4:00 pm during the summer months, reports AlRai daily.
This came in response to a question posed by the daily regarding the possibility of banning delivery workers who use motorcycles from working at noon.
Coordination
Safar said, this will be done in coordination with the Ministry of Interior, the Kuwait Municipality, and the Public Authority for Manpower. He added, if the department gets a nod from all concerned authorities, the law will be implemented from next year. He pointed out that “the matter is still in initial stages and a memorandum will be submitted in this regard, and meetings will be held with the Ministry of Interior and Kuwait Municipality.
Safar said this on the sidelines of an inspection campaign carried out by the department of construction sites in the South Abdullah Al-Mubarak.
He said during the campaign the Noon Committee members issued 24 warnings to workers who were caught during the ban period. He said that the team carried out more than 1,118 inspection tours and issued 538 warnings and forced some workers to sign a pledge not to repeat the offence.
He pointed out that the most prominent problems or obstacles faced by the team are in the form of insistence by some workers to speed up the completion of work. Another problem is that when inspectors are on a visit, word spreads fast and people escaped from the site and resume work after the inspectors leave. He called for spreading awareness among employers and workers and remind them of the importance of adhering to the noon ban to ensure the health and safety of workers and to provide a shaded place and the necessary supplies for the comfort of workers.