• Home

Four workers collapse in intense heat

Witnesses at the site told Khaleej Times that two workers and two site engineers were taken to the hospital after they collapsed in the intense heat on Thursday morning. They were employed by Al Naboodah Engineering Services (ANES) and were working on a sewerage treatment plant at the time of the incident. Two of the affected were Indian nationals.

"I was working at a nearby site when I saw a commotion. Workers had gathered around those who had collapsed and were trying to revive them with water but to no avail," said Iqbal, a Pakistani labourer.

An ambulance and a police vehicle from Jebel Ali Police Station arrived at the scene a while later, and two were shifted to hospital and their condition was said to be stable.

A spokesperson for Nakheel, the property developer responsible for the construction of the Palm Jumeirah, confirmed that the reason for the four taking ill was heat exhaustion and that adequate measures had been taken to ensure the employees' welfare.

"On Thursday, at 10.30am, four ANES employees working in the Sewerage Treatment Plant collapsed due to heat exhaustion. As a precaution, two employees were taken to hospital by ambulance, but were discharged three hours later. Both of them are Supervising Engineers," the spokesperson told Khaleej Times.

The temperature on Thursday morning rose to 41 degrees Celsius and humidity levels were close to 40 per cent, according to weather reports. Many workers from other sites confirmed that such scenes of exhaustion were quite common during this time of the year. "It really becomes very hot during the daytime and many a times, we are not provided with water coolers. Sometimes, we are given half a lemon to last throughout the day and this is not enough. There are plenty of cases where workers have almost lost their lives because of the extreme heat we are exposed to daily," said a worker.

Work commenced on the site soon after remedial measures were taken by the company. The spokesperson said: "A full investigation was carried out and only after all corrective measures were in place did we allow work to re-commence."

Nakheel has reiterated that they would be taking all necessary precautions to avoid such instances in future.

"Nakheel already has policies in place to prevent possible instances of heat exhaustion occurring and full heat stress training is given to all employees," the spokesperson added.

• UAE