Dubai Municipality launches comprehensive campaign to evaluate labour camp conditions in the Emirate

The operation aims to ensure that the labour camps comply with the health and safety regulations, and to prosecute those companies whose camps are found to be non-compliant.

Eng. Salem Mesmar, Director of Public Health Department in the Municipality and the Head of the recently established Committee for Environmental and Labour Health in Dubai, stated that the committee is currently undertaking a comprehensive evaluation of all labour camps in Dubai to guarantee safe and comfortable living conditions for workers, and to improve the quality of the services provided by the municipality in those areas.

Eng. Salem Mesmar also revealed that the committee members have - over the course of the past few days - conducted a number of surprise visits to many labour camps in the area of Al Muhaisina, home to over 495 labour camps managed by different companies and organisations. These field visits aimed to check compliance with these regulations and punish those who did not conform.

Mesmar added by saying: "It is of high importance that these visits are conducted without prior notice to make sure that we receive the real picture, and that we are able to correctly identify any non-compliance with the laws. The results of this campaign have been in-line with the results of the survey conducted by the Department of Public Health at the Municipality which reveal that almost 80% of these camps adhere to the guidelines set by the municipality. This survey evaluates many different aspects such as building condition, sleeping quarters, entertainment areas, dining facilities, drinking water, health services, waste removal, pest control and first aid".

Mesmar also stressed that the committee will present a comprehensive report to the Director General of the Municipality that includes a comprehensive evaluation of the health and living situations in all labour camps, and its recommendations on how to improve the living conditions of the labourers, including how to improve the municipality's services in these areas. This includes public health, cleanliness, road paving, road and building numbering, and sewage systems.

A committee for following up on the environmental and health conditions in Dubai has established a technical task force from different departments (public health, environment and buildings) to start evaluating the conditions and the state of the buildings in some of the older labour camps and studying the possibility of demolishing the buildings that cannot be maintained or renovated.

The recommendations that will be presented by the committee will also include a study that evaluates the possibility of allowing more floors to be built and setting restrictions on companies that rent out the land bestowed to them for use as labour camps to different companies as business investments.

The Committee for Environmental and Labour Health in Dubai also plans on recommending an increase in the number of health inspectors assigned to evaluate labour camps in order to improve the efficiency of these inspections and enhance the living conditions in these camps.