Beating the Heat: What Saudi Arabia’s Midday Work Ban Reveals

Jun 24, 2025

A deserted highway in Saudi Arabia under the intense midday sun, with heat shimmering over the asphalt and a long line of streetlamps stretching into the horizon.

Midday in the Saudi summer: While regulations now limit outdoor work during peak heat hours, the reality on the ground often tells a different story. (Source: Shutterstock)

In Saudi Arabia, summer is not just a season — it’s a logistical constraint. On June 15, the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Development began enforcing its annual midday outdoor work ban, restricting all private sector establishments from assigning outdoor work between 12 p.m. and 3 p.m. The policy, effective until September 15, aims to reduce heat-related occupational injuries in one of the world’s hottest climates.

Until recently, few questioned working through extreme weather. In the 1990s, construction crews in Dammam often poured asphalt at midday because schedules left no alternative. “Nobody talked about heat stress,” says a former site supervisor. “You just kept water nearby and finished the job.” Shade breaks were informal, and injuries were often shrugged off.

Today, the regulation — issued in cooperation with the National Council for Occupational Safety and Health — is paired with procedural guides and digital reporting tools. On large government-led projects in Riyadh or Jeddah, implementation appears stronger. But elsewhere, enforcement remains uneven. In smaller firms, workers sometimes shift to indoor paperwork during banned hours — or simply pause and resume later in the evening.

Some ambiguity persists on the ground. “They say we should rest,” says Naresh, a warehouse assistant originally from Hyderabad, “but the schedule doesn’t always allow it. Sometimes, we wait until the inspector leaves, then go back.”

His comment reflects a broader truth: the presence of rules does not always guarantee protection.

Similar bans exist in the UAE, Qatar, and Kuwait, but their effectiveness often depends less on the policy itself than on monitoring, pressure from clients, or worker confidence in speaking up. In Saudi Arabia, those factors vary widely.

The contradiction stands. A policy exists to prevent sun exposure, but in practice, many still work around it. The regulation may reflect an evolving awareness of labor rights, but its implementation reveals the limits of top-down change in a system still adapting to modern standards.

Whether this signals a new direction or remains a seasonal footnote is unclear. But for now, Saudi Arabia’s summer sun continues to test more than just those who work beneath it.