“More than 40 firms found violating day break rules in Oman”, 3 July 2017

More than 40 companies violated the mid day break rule during the afternoon hours in summer, a senior official from the Ministry of Manpower (MoM) said…This comes after the Ministry had issued a directive to all companies in the country to stop work under direct sunlight between 12.30pm and 3.30pm, from June to August…[T]he ministry teams visited more than 470 institutions all over the country…Out of the 470 inspections made, 43 firms were found to not have stopped work during this time in June,” a senior official at MoM said.

He also said regulations on occupational safety and health at facilities governed by the Labour Law…also prohibit the employment of workers at construction sites or in open spaces during periods of high temperatures…However, a section of workers argued that they were forced to either suspend work for three hours at an under construction building or sleep on the roads near the site…“Now we end up working for more hours in the sun than before as we begin early. We earlier used to start at 7am but now we have to start at 6am,” said a labourer at a construction site in Ruwi.