Cartoon by Graeme MacKay

Saudi Arabia: Migrant Workers Electrocuted, Decapitated, and Falling to Death at Workplaces

Human Rights Watch: Scores of migrant workers in Saudi Arabia die in gruesome yet avoidable workplace-related accidents, including falling from buildings, electrocution, and even decapitation, Human Rights Watch said today. Saudi authorities have failed to adequately protect workers from preventable deaths, investigate workplace safety incidents, and ensure timely and adequate compensation for families, including through mandatory life insurance policies and survivors’ benefits. A separate, independent investigation by Fairsquare, also released today, highlights a serious lack of effective Saudi government policies and processes to determine the cause of migrant worker deaths.

The risks of occupational deaths and injuries are further increasing as the Saudi government ramps up construction work for the 2034 World Cup as well as other “giga-projects.” Families said that Saudi-based employers and authorities have given their families very little information on the circumstances of their relatives’ deaths, some employers refused to cover repatriation costs, and some even pressed families to bury their relatives in Saudi Arabia, offering financial incentives to do so. Companies also often sought to withhold returning deceased migrant workers’ belongings and the outstanding pay owed to them.

“The gruesome workplace accidents killing migrant workers in Saudi Arabia should be a huge red flag for businesses, football fans, and sports associations seeking to partner with FIFA on the 2034 Men’s World Cup and other Saudi ‘giga-projects’,” said Michael Page, deputy Middle East director at Human Rights Watch. “Given that Saudi authorities are failing to adequately ensure basic safety protections and social security for migrant workers, local and international companies face a larger responsibility to ensure that serious rights violations are not occurring throughout their business operations in Saudi Arabia.”

Human Rights Watch interviewed families of 31 deceased migrant workers from Bangladesh, India, and Nepal who died between the ages of 23 and 52 in Saudi Arabia, 2 social workers based in origin countries who provided repatriation support to the families, and 3 current migrant workers who were witnesses to their colleagues’ deaths. Researchers also reviewed, where available, deceased workers’ “No Objection Certificates,” a mandatory document issued by origin country embassies before allowing repatriation of a migrant worker’s body, death certificates, and other relevant official documents.

In line with a body of research on how many migrant worker deaths in Saudi Arabia are erroneously classified as “natural” and neither investigated nor compensated, Human Rights Watch found that even work-related death cases categorized as such in a migrant worker’s death certificate are sometimes not compensated as they should be according to Saudi law and international labor standards. In migrant death cases that are compensated, the process is long and burdensome.

The construction sector is most prone to work-related accidents, according to official records of Saudi Arabia’s General Organization for Social Insurance (GOSI). The figures show that the top three workplace injuries are from “inanimate mechanical forces,” falls, and traffic accidents, with migrant workers disproportionately affected.

Saudi laws require employers with 50 or more workers to implement a health and safety policy, conduct training, assess workplace risks, and provide necessary protective gear and first aid. The National Council of Occupational Safety and Health has said that the Human Resources and Social Development Ministry conducts regular inspections, compliance checks, and investigations of workplace incidents in coordination with stakeholders, and that violations are to be addressed through legal action or penalties as specified by labor regulations.

But Human Rights Watch found that workers across employment sectors and geographic regions in Saudi Arabia continue to face widespread labor abuses and occupational dangers at their work sites. While “diseases caused by exposure to extreme temperatures” are included in its approved list of occupational diseases, heat-related protections and related investigations, including of extreme heat-related deaths, remain grossly inadequate.

FIFA, the international football organization, has awarded the 2034 World Cup to Saudi Arabia without proper human rights due diligence, guarantees of effective worker protection requirements, including from extreme heat, or ensuring social security to workers, including survivor’s benefits and other compensation, such as mandatory life insurance. FIFA is knowingly risking yet another tournament that will unnecessarily come at a grave human cost, Human Rights Watch said  >>>