Workers in Aramco’s supply chain face safety risks, report finds

Lying in a hospital bed in Saudi Arabia with his legs encased in plaster casts, Shrawan Shah Rauniyar clung to the hope that he would at least receive fair compensation after a giant metal beam fell off a forklift and crushed his legs while he was working on a project for Saudi Aramco, one of the world’s most profitable companies.

Rauniyar, a migrant worker from Nepal, was not directly employed by the state-owned energy giant. Instead, like tens of thousands of other migrant workers in the Gulf kingdom, he worked for a small labor supply company that sent him to a project managed by Italian firm Saipem, which was contracted by Aramco.

When Saipem staff visited him in the hospital, they brought flowers and chocolates but delivered a blunt message, Rauniyar alleges: “Don’t ask us about compensation. We don’t know about it. You’re a contract worker for us. Talk to your employer.”

The labor supply company appeared eager to wash its hands of him. Rauniyar said men from the company threatened him in the hospital, allegedly telling him: “Go home. Otherwise, we’ll kill you. We’ll kick you out on the street. Then who will give you food and shelter?”

Rauniyar refused to give in and demanded compensation he was entitled to under his contract and Saudi law. But less than three weeks after the accident, he claims staff from the labor supply company forcibly took him to the airport and put him on a plane back to Nepal.

Saipem confirmed Rauniyar was injured and said it “ensured full medical assistance” for him.

Rauniyar believes some responsibility for his fate lies with Aramco. “I get enraged thinking about Aramco. Since it is taking workers from other companies, shouldn’t they pay attention to them? It’s their responsibility, too,” he said. “Aramco has become rich selling our sweat and blood.”

Rauniyar’s story is one of 23 alleged labor rights abuses among workers employed by Aramco’s contractors and subcontractors in Saudi Arabia documented in a report by the human rights group FairSquare. Based on these allegations, the report found that migrant workers in Aramco’s supply chain “are exposed to serious safety and health risks, and face significant challenges in claiming compensation in the event of injury or death.”

Workers interviewed by FairSquare alleged they also endured grave labor rights violations, including exposure to extreme heat, work shifts of up to 19 hours, and being housed in what the rights group called “slum housing.”

FairSquare’s director, Nick McGeehan, said: “Aramco obviously has a responsibility to protect these workers, but it also has tremendous influence to set standards that flow down its supply chain to hundreds of thousands of workers across Saudi Arabia. The neglect that we see in its supply chain indicates that it takes migrant worker protection no more seriously than the Saudi state.”

The findings are particularly striking given that Aramco is one of the wealthiest, most profitable, and most influential corporations in the world. As Saudi Arabia’s national oil company, it provides about two-thirds of the government’s revenue. It is the fourth largest company globally by revenue, with a market value of about $1.7 trillion — roughly the same as the next five energy companies combined.

Aramco is not just the economic engine of Saudi Arabia but also plays a leading role in the kingdom’s efforts to rebrand on the global stage, notably through sports. As one of FIFA’s main sponsors, its name will be plastered all over this summer’s World Cup.

Aramco employs more than 76,000 people, but this figure hides a far larger number of workers employed through a long and complex chain of thousands of contractors and subcontractors. These workers, overwhelmingly migrant laborers from South Asia, may not appear in Aramco’s annual reports but do the often difficult and dangerous work that drives its profits, from constructing facilities to transporting petrol.

Such an extensive labor supply chain does not exempt Aramco from its responsibilities to its entire workforce. The UN’s Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights require companies to prevent human rights abuses “throughout their operations.” Aramco appears to accept this, stating online: “Aramco is committed to supporting and empowering our workforce and the communities where we operate. The safety and wellbeing of our employees, their dependents, and our company’s contractors is paramount to our strategy and operations.”

As a majority state-owned company, the UN’s guiding principles put additional responsibilities on the Saudi government “to ensure that relevant policies, legislation and regulations regarding respect for human rights are implemented.”

Now, Rauniyar is confined to a small room he rents in southeastern Nepal.

Doctors have told him the bones in his right leg have not joined properly and he may need further surgery, but he says he does not have the money for it. “My legs hurt when I walk. I can’t lift weights. If my legs hadn’t been broken, I could have worked somewhere, but not in this condition,” he said.

Even before the accident, Rauniyar struggled in Saudi Arabia. He says he worked 10-hour shifts for just 1,000 rials a month — about $267. “If we took a day off, they would deduct three days’ wages from our salary,” he said. He claims he was housed in overcrowded rooms “like pigs,” and his fellow workers fell sick because of “rotten” food.

Now he relies on his wife’s meager teaching salary of 7,000 rupees — about $82 — a month and some fees from tuition classes he runs for local children. “We are poor. I don’t have a home. I don’t have anything. My life has collapsed,” he said.

FairSquare’s findings are consistent with reports from Human Rights Watch and the Business and Human Rights Resource Centre, which last year found evidence of rights abuses in Aramco’s labor supply chain. Severe labor violations were also uncovered at Aramco Stadium, the first new venue developed for the 2034 football World Cup. Earlier this year, the Guardian reported that the family of a Pakistani worker who fell to his death at the stadium was still waiting for compensation almost a year after his death.

Under Saudi law, when a worker is injured or dies on the job, they or their family should receive compensation from a government insurance scheme or directly from their employer. Yet compensation was paid in only one of the six cases of injury or death documented in FairSquare’s report.

Among those who failed to receive compensation from Saudi Arabia is the family of Manjay Kumar Sah. When Sah gave his wife, Babita, a call early one morning in December 2023, there was no hint the day would take a devastating turn. They often had a quick chat, mostly about their four young children.

After the call, Babita returned to work in the fields near her home on the southern plains of Nepal, while Sah set off for his shift as a scaffolder for a subcontractor on an Aramco project in eastern Saudi Arabia. As he waited at the work site to be assigned his work for the day, he suddenly collapsed. An ambulance was called, but Sah, 40, died shortly afterward, a co-worker and relative told FairSquare.

Sah’s family was told by the subcontractor that a postmortem would take three months, so still numb with grief, they agreed to bring his body home without one. Despite this — and a medical report stating “the cause of death is unknown” — Sah’s death certificate classified his death as “natural.” The term “natural death” is a catch-all used on death certificates of many migrant workers who die in Saudi Arabia, but it provides no information about the underlying cause, suggests no in-depth investigation, and allows some employers to avoid paying compensation.

Sah’s brother Santosh, who also worked in Saudi Arabia, told FairSquare no one was willing to take responsibility for his death or for compensation for his family. He said he asked the subcontractor’s supervisor dealing with the case about compensation many times, but he refused to listen. “Talk to your embassy. They’re the ones who settle it,” Santosh claims he was told. The only compensation Sah’s family received came from insurance schemes in Nepal.

When news of her husband’s death reached Babita, she “fainted again and again. I was not even aware of what was happening,” she said. Two years later, Sah’s death still weighs heavy on Babita. “We’ve lost our breadwinner. Life has become very difficult,” she said. “We used to have many dreams for our children, but I’ve given up on them now.”

In a statement, Aramco said: “Safety and wellbeing is a core value of the company. Our project guidelines contribute to supporting safe working conditions and straightforward communication channels for raising concerns; and reflect our efforts to conducting business in an ethical, safe and responsible manner.” It said it had introduced a program to “support the wellbeing of the contractor workforce.”

Saipem said it “takes the health and safety of all people involved in its projects very seriously and strives to act responsibly in every instance, including with regard to workers employed by contractors and subcontractors.”