Employee Death-Employer Responsibility

Despite the on-going development of Qatar's health and safety regulation and policy tragically employees still die at work. This development has been accelerated, especially in the last 5 to 10 years. Partly as a result of such acceleration, accompanied by the high staff turnover which is usually associated with a large ex-pat work force, confusion exists as to exact nature of an employer's responsibilities when an employee dies in the course of, but not necessarily as a result of, work and the process which the officials at the various Government agencies must follow. This article sets out some of the practical steps which an employer should be aware of when dealing with the death of an employee.

For the avoidance of doubt these practical steps constitute our experience of worksite deaths and therefore provide general points of note rather than an exhaustive list; on a case by case basis the steps may be applied "flexibly" depending on the identity of the employer, the government officials on duty at the various Government agencies, including the Ministry of Interior and Supreme Council of Health (SCH), and the time of year, ie. public holidays may delay or amend the steps which need to be taken. In summary, the first responsibility of the employer in relation to employee death is to review current regulations and up-date its internal policies periodically.

When an employee dies the employer should inform the Police and dependant on the Police's instructions his or her body should then be removed to the nearest hospital. Where the employee dies in hospital it will be the hospital which will inform the Police. The attending Policemen will speak to the Doctor who attended the employee and/or his or her body and will then visit the employee's work place and accommodation (which may be provided), in order to determine whether or not the employee's death was "normal", ie. that he or she died of natural causes and not as a result of anything the employer did or did not do. The Police will usually interview the work place manager and any other employees or third parties who may have been associated with the employee in the days before his or her death and where the Police are suspicious of individuals or practices, further questions may be asked and/or arrests may be made.

Where the Police have any suspicions at all that the employee's death was not normal, they will forward their report to the Public Prosecution Service (PPS) who will determine...