Saudi Gazette report

JEDDAH — The General Organization for Social Insurance (GOSI) has reiterated that it will bear the cost of living of any expatriate worker who is injured at work, local daily Al-Madina reported on Sunday.

If an injured worker needs the help of others to run his daily affairs of life he or she will be entitled to be paid about 50 percent of the proceedings of his insurance with a maximum ceiling of SR3,500 every month, GOSI said.

But if a worker objects to the preliminary medical report, he will be responsible to bear his expenses as long as his objection is under review.

“If the objection is accepted, the worker will be compensated,” GOSI said.

If a worker’s injury results in permanent disability then GOSI will bear the travel expenses of the worker to his or her home country.

GOSI said the entire compensation will be paid before the injured worker leaves for his or her home country.

GOSI said that it will be considered a work injury if an expatriate worker is injured in a traffic accident while on his/her way to work place or back home from work.

“It will be considered a work injury if an expatriate worker is hit by a car while on his way to have food or on his way to pray in a nearby mosque,” it said.

GOSI said it will also pay the cost of repatriating the dead body of an expatriate worker if he or she dies of a work injury. This will include paying the cost of Ghusl (washing) and other expenses, it added.

During the first nine months of 2016, GOSI registered 38,767 work injuries among Saudi and expatriate workers. It said that there were 375 deaths during the same period.

According to GOSI’s figures, there were 10,502 inured workers during the first nine months of the past year who were under medical treatment. It said, 920 of them have recovered and 128 have died due to work injuries.