A Step in the Right Direction .. ECESR Calls for Nationwide Adoption of Heat Stress Protection Measures for Workers

The Egyptian Center for Economic and Social Rights (ECESR) welcomes the recent decisions issued by several governorates to prohibit street cleaners from working outdoors during midday and peak heat hours. The Center considers these measures a significant step forward and a direct response to its earlier warnings on the severe dangers that heat stress poses to the health and lives of workers, particularly in sectors most exposed to direct sunlight and outdoor labor.

The Center affirms that such measures are in full alignment with national legislation and occupational safety and health (OSH) standards, which oblige employers to provide a safe and healthy working environment. They also mark a tangible advance in the protection of workers’ rights.

ECESR reiterates its call on the Minister of Labor to address the urgent risks of heat stress by adopting immediate measures to protect workers in both public and private sector establishments, ensuring employer compliance with OSH requirements — including the preventive steps previously recommended by the Center — and by monitoring their effective implementation in the field to safeguard lives.

In this regard, the Center re-emphasizes its previously proposed set of urgent measures to mitigate the impact of heat stress, which include:

1. Reducing working hours during periods of extreme heat.

2. Increasing and distributing rest breaks throughout the working day.

3. Providing shaded or air-cooled rest areas for workers.

4. Scheduling heat-intensive tasks during cooler parts of the day.

5. Limiting the physical demands of outdoor work and increasing staffing for strenuous tasks to distribute effort.

6. Using tools and equipment that minimize physical exertion.

7. Supplying cold drinking water and other fluids, with scheduled hydration breaks.

8. Assigning trained supervisors to monitor workers’ health and detect early signs of heat stress.

9. Ensuring the availability of first aid equipment and materials for immediate emergency response.

The Center stresses that any injury sustained as a result of excessive heat exposure constitutes an occupational injury requiring compensation from the employer, and may also give rise to criminal liability in cases of negligence or failure to implement preventive measures. ECESR further calls for these protections to be made mandatory for all public and private workplaces, with rigorous inspection and strict penalties for non-compliance.

The Center underscores that these measures represent only the minimum level of protection needed for millions of workers. It calls for their inclusion in national emergency plans to address heat waves, recognizing them as a natural hazard with serious humanitarian consequences, and for the urgent updating of relevant legislation — foremost Ministerial Decree No. 211 of 2003 — to reflect unprecedented temperature rises, which in some cases have exceeded safe thresholds by approximately 17°C.

Finally, ECESR urges acceleration of digital transformation and automation of essential public services — including health insurance, state-funded medical treatment, and administrative procedures — particularly for vulnerable groups, to reduce the additional risks posed by physical and mental strain in unsafe environments.