Qatar World Cup Construction Workers To Get 'Cooling' Hard Hats

Migrant workers building football stadiums in Qatar's desert heat are "to be given 'cooling' hard hats to reduce their body temperature and risk of suffering heat stroke," according to Tom Finn of REUTERS. Scientists at Qatar University "designed the solar-powered hard hats to improve conditions" for 2022 World Cup laborers who rights groups say have "suffered abuses." Qatar University engineering professor Saud Ghani said that "a fan in the top of the helmet blows air over a cold pack onto the person's face reducing skin temperature by up to 10 degrees centigrade." About 5,100 construction workers from Nepal, India and Bangladesh are building stadiums in the "wealthy" Gulf Arab state which has "drawn charges by human rights groups of labor abuse, including poor safety at work and squalid living conditions" (REUTERS, 12/29).