KUWAIT: Inspectors are seen inspecting a construction site in Al-Msasayel yesterday. - KUNA photos

KUWAIT: Inspectors yesterday found laborers working in the afternoon's scorching heat in the district of Al-Msasayel, and penalized their employers. The workers were found pouring masonry and carrying construction materials to a building site under the day's peak sunlight, Ahmad Dashti, head of the work safety division in Farwaniya Governorate, said in a statement to the press.

The national department for work safety, an affiliate of the Public Authority for Manpower, received up to 90 reports about such breaches and upon that, the inspection teams had headed to 2,001 sites since the start of June to determine whether the workers were forced to work in the days' most scorching hours. Up to 1,502 workers were found to have been put in such difficult condition, thus the inspectors issued 785 penalties against the employers. In later re-inspections, the inspectors found that 725 employing companies had heeded the terms for the acceptable work hours.

Meanwhile, Abdullah Al-Otaibi, the judicial officer at the national center, said that the inspectors have been examining the work conditions in compliance with the Cabinet Resolution 535/2015 that prohibits compelling the laborers to work outdoors during the summer from start of June until end of August from 11 am to 4 pm. He indicated that fines set by the teams would be eventually specified by courts.

There have been significant positive response on part of the employing companies since launch of the monitoring tour in 2015, Otaibi affirmed, adding that the inspections would proceed until end of the current month. Kuwait this month and the past two months witnessed temperatures soaring to 48 degrees and above, particularly during middays. - KUNA