2023-10-27 08:00:05
Working under 42°C and blazing sun, so that the states of the world come together at the largest annual summit to combat global warming. Investigation by the British NGO FairSquare, published on October 20, reveals that migrant workers, originally from Africa and South Asia, would have worked at the beginning of September on the renovation of Expo City buildings in the heat.
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These are the premises which will welcome heads of state, representatives and the media during COP28 from November 30 to December 12 in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, the first Conference of the Parties to devote an entire day to the impact of change climate on health. “They should start addressing this issue locally, where migrant workers are preparing Expo City buildings in temperatures that are making tourists feel unwell.”declares James Lynch, founder and co-director of the NGO.
According to the testimonies collected by the researchers, as well as the visual evidence which was consulted by The world, workers, estimated to number between 20 and 30, were working, carrying heavy loads in extreme heat and high humidity at times when work is not legal in the UAE. Outdoor work is prohibited, since a ministerial resolution adopted in 2022, from 12:30 p.m. to 3 p.m. from June 15 to September 15, as the heat can be extreme during the summer. The elements put forward by FairSquare show that this rule would have been violated, despite the very real risks to the health of workers.
“We have to finish”
“The risks of working in extreme heat can be short term or long term, explains Barrak Alahmad, researcher in the department of environmental health at Harvard University (United States), who has notably studied the effects of the environment on the health of migrant workers in Kuwait. There are obviously the risks of heart failure, heart attacks, potentially fatal heat stroke, but also kidney problems, with workers ending up on dialysis after a few years. »
The researcher also highlights the risks of work accidents, which he considers “less considered”while, under the pressure of temperature, mental faculties can be altered, which can lead to serious accidents. “When we exceed 40 degrees, the risk of having a serious accident at work increases by 20% compared to the average summer temperature, which is 27 degrees. » Criticism of the policy of mid-day banBarrak Alahmad specifies: “Who said a body couldn’t suffer from the heat at 10 a.m.? This type of policy is in no way based on science, which does not reason in terms of timetables. » In the Gulf region, the temperature can exceed 40 degrees between one hundred and one hundred and fifty days a year.
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