Updating the Workers' Welfare Standards
Initiative description: Reviewing and updating, if required, the Workers’ Welfare Standards (WWS) periodically to reflect feedback from stakeholders, including workers, workers’ representatives, contractors and construction partners, government, rights advocates and experts, and international delegations.
In consultation with key stakeholders, the Workers‘ Welfare Standards (WWS) have evolved over time and are updated as needed to reflect best practices, changes in labour law and the expansion of the workers’ welfare programme of activities to include other business sectors beyond construction. The last amendment to the WWS was the addition of Bulletin 1 to Edition 2.
Based on experience implementing the WWS across the hospitality sector, host country and tournament operations, the Supreme Committee for Delivery & Legacy (SC) Workers’ Welfare Department (WWD) is currently updating the standards to provide Qatar’s Ministry of Labour (MoL) with a final edition (i.e. edition 3) for further implementation. The broad changes will include:
pre-mobilisation approval requirements for sub-contractors;
enhancement of medical examination requirements;
sector-specific requirements for the construction, hospitality, and service sectors;
specific requirements for recruitment agencies, kitchen inspections and life insurance; and
capture of sub-contractor compliance/non-compliance at the main contractor level to increase accountability.