Article 129 of the Saudi Labor Law

Article 129 falls within Part Eight of the Labor Law on the prevention of work hazards and major industrial accidents, and is an organizing article that sets the body responsible for establishing the standard for classifying hazardous establishments and the basis on which this standard is built.

According to the text, the Ministry sets controls for identifying what are called "establishments with major hazards," and these controls must rest on one of two things or both:

• A list of hazardous substances: that is, the names of specific substances.
• The categories of these substances: that is, their classification into groups according to their nature, without being limited to naming each substance.

To understand the article, reference must be made to Article 128, which defined the basic terms; an establishment with major hazards is one that produces, prepares, handles, uses or stores one or more hazardous substances, permanently or temporarily, in quantities exceeding the permitted standards. A hazardous substance is any substance or mixture that poses a danger by virtue of its chemical, physical or toxic properties. Article 129 is the tool that turns these general definitions into a practical, applicable standard.

Then comes Article 130, which requires employers to determine, in coordination with the Ministry, the status of their establishments on the basis of the controls referred to in Article 129. The chain is thus complete: a definition in Article 128, then controls set by the Ministry in Article 129, then the employer's obligation to apply them in Article 130.

What this means in practice:

1. It is not left to the employer to judge whether its establishment is hazardous according to its own view; it must refer to the controls the Ministry sets.
2. The text did not set the lists, quantities or categories itself, but referred their details to the Ministry, so they cannot be derived from this article alone.
3. An employer that deals with substances that may be hazardous must follow the controls the Ministry issues and coordinate with it to determine the classification of its establishment under Article 130.

If there is doubt about the classification of a particular establishment or the obligations that follow from it, it is advisable to consult a lawyer who specializes in labor law.