Rising temperatures a challenge for fasting workers
Rising mercury levels has made it challenging for some blue collar workers to fast this Ramadan.
Construction workers, car washers and gardeners, among others, who expose more to the heat and humidity say they feel dehydrated and more tired than on usual working days due to the weather and fasting. Some said they cannot stand the heat and stress and opted not to fast.
A few employers allow workers to rest frequently or adjust work for those fasting besides the ban on work in open places between 11.30am and 3pm.
And majority of workers get their food from charities and avoid cooking or taking it from a ‘mess’ provided by employers.
“We work eight hours a day on a usual shift. It’s very difficult when the humidity level rises, especially these days during fasting,” said a car washer at the underground parking slot of a popular shopping mall.
“We take rest between work, but here only, we have no access to air condition, sometimes we walk out of the parking slot but it’s hot outside, too.”
Many employers give fasting Muslim workers the option of working in the morning and evening or night shifts.
But even in the morning, the humidity is making it difficult for blue collar workers to fast and work.
“We work only in the mornings, six hours. Our work is not hard labour but with the heat, it’s sometimes difficult for us to fast.
“By 9am, we feel tired. Every day we fast and come to work but on two days I couldn’t continue,” said a gardener in his morning shift in New Salata.
Most construction sites begin work between 4am and 6am and finish before 11.30am.
“We start work early in the morning, so workers can get back to their accommodation before the temperature is high. But if anyone feels sick or tired, we let them rest,” said a senior official of a construction company.
Some workers say in hot weather, fasting and travelling in non-AC buses from work sites to their accommodations around noon make them uneasy.
Read more at The Peninsula
