Summer ban on outdoor work, which prohibits all outdoor work between midday and 4pm and carries a penalty per worker for companies, has begun today (July 1) in Bahrain and will run until the end of August.

The maximum penalty has more than tripled to BD1,000 ($2.635), while the minimum fine has risen 10-fold to BD500, according to a report in the Gulf daily News, our sister publication.

Labour Ministry occupational safety section head Hussain Al Shami said that the previous fine began at BD50 and was a maximum of BD300.

Furthermore, under the new law each labour offence will be fined, so if three people are working then there will be three fines, he added.

The ban aims to protect workers from potentially fatal conditions such as heat stroke.

Bahrain has been posting record temperatures in recent years with the mercury rising as high as 47.4C during the hottest months of the year. However, since the law was implemented in 2007, heat related injuries during July and August fell from a high of 53 to an average of four.

Al Shami said that the compliance of the law is between 97 per cent and 99 per cent. – TradeArabia News Service