Dubai Municipality distributes ‘cool collars’ to labourers

Dubai’s street cleaners spend their days working outside in the sticky, oppressive heat – but now, Dubai Municipality has come up with a novel way to bring them some relief.

The civic body’s waste management department has distributed more than 4000 “cool collars” to its workers, as temperatures continue to hover around the early 40s.

The clever accessory contains special gels that are cooled in the fridge or freezer, and can be worn comfortably around the neck.

A post shared by بلدية دبي (@dubaimunicipality) on Aug 29, 2017 at 2:12am PDT

Dubai Municipality explained the initiative was part of its ongoing efforts to protect its workers against sunstroke.

“Protecting the department’s workforce is at the top of our priorities as the nature of work of this category requires working in the open and exerting a lot of efforts in cleaning operations,” said Abdulmajeed Saifai, director of the waste management department.

“The department took into account these factors and initiated the distribution of this type of cooling material, which can be used around the neck to cool the body and protect the body from high temperature so that the worker is not subject to heat exhaustion due to high temperatures.”

Earlier this year, Dubai Municipality handed out more than 1000 free umbrellas across the city’s parks and beaches to shield residents from the scorching sun.