"UAE launches new platform to ensure safe labour accommodations", 18 Jan 2022

The Ministry of Human Resources and Emiratization launched a digital platform to connect landlords of labour accommodations with employers as part of a comprehensive system to ensure health and safety guidelines are being followed.

Ibrahim Abdul Rahman Al-Ammari, Director of the Occupational Health and Safety Department, said the ministry conducts regular checks to ensure guidelines are implemented at labour accommodations.

He noted that the platform enables landlords to register their labour accommodation on the ministry’s website www.mohre.gov.ae. Besides helping employers to rent the appropriate accommodation easily, the platform also indicates the validity of the housing and its safety.

Under the guidelines, accommodations must be well-lit, air-conditioned and well-ventilated with each person allocated at least 3 square metres of space.

Workers must have dining halls and clean kitchens equipped with suction fans and filtered coolers for drinking water, with a safe and designated space for gas cylinders outside the kitchen. Safe containers must be provided to store waste.

Special shelves for shoes must be placed at the entrance to the room, and, in case of shared bathrooms, one bathroom should be allocated for every eight workers, equipped with the necessary bathroom supplies and a safe sewage drainage with exhaust fans.