scholarly journals Risk Perception in the Construction Industry: Differences Between Italian and Migrant Workers Before and After a Targeted Training Intervention

2021 ◽  
Vol 31 (1) ◽  
pp. 65-71
Author(s):  
Federico Ricci ◽  
Giulia Bravo ◽  
Alberto Modenese ◽  
Fabrizio De Pasquale ◽  
Davide Ferrari ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Risk Perception ◽  
Construction Industry ◽  
Migrant Workers ◽  
Construction Workers ◽  
Construction Sites ◽  
Visual Tool ◽  
Occupational Risks ◽  
Linguistic Barriers ◽  
Before And After ◽  
The Difference

We developed a visual tool to assess risk perception for a sample of male construction workers (forty Italian and twenty-eight immigrant workers), just before and after a sixteen-hour training course. The questionnaire included photographs of real construction sites, and workers were instructed to select pictograms representing the occupational risks present in each photograph. Points were awarded for correctly identifying any risks that were present, and points were deducted for failing to identify risks that were present or identifying risks that were not present. We found: (1) Before the course, risk perception was significantly lower in immigrants compared to Italians ( p < .001); (2) risk perception improved significantly ( p < .001) among all workers tested; and (3) after the training, the difference in risk perception between Italians and immigrants was no longer statistically significant ( p = .1086). Although the sample size was relatively small, the results suggest that the training is effective and may reduce the degree to which cultural and linguistic barriers hinder risk perception. Moreover, the use of images and pictograms instead of words to evaluate risk perception could also be applied to nonconstruction workplaces.

Living on the Construction Site: Paraguayan Construction Workers in Buenos Aires

2017 ◽  
Vol 45 (1) ◽  
pp. 77-90 ◽  
Author(s):  
Álvaro del Águila
Keyword(s):  
Construction Industry ◽  
Metropolitan Area ◽  
Migrant Workers ◽  
Buenos Aires ◽  
Labor Relations ◽  
Construction Workers ◽  
Construction Site ◽  
Construction Sites ◽  
Ethnographic Fieldwork

Argentine enterprises subsume Paraguayan migrant workers into the construction industry in the Buenos Aires metropolitan area, subordinating them to the demands of production by temporarily housing them on the construction sites themselves. Ethnographic fieldwork carried out on various construction sites between 2006 and 2015 shows how this practice overlaps with wider processes of global transformation in labor relations. The lodging of workers on construction sites is an increasingly widespread strategy for capitalist entrepreneurs to exploit the migrant workforce even further. Las empresas argentinas han incorporado a los trabajadores migrantes paraguayos a la industria de la construcción en el área metropolitana de Buenos Aires y los han subordinado a las exigencias de la producción, alojándolos temporalmente en las obras mismas. Un trabajo de campo etnográfico realizado en varias obras entre 2006 y 2015 muestra cómo dicha práctica se entrelaza con procesos más amplios en la transformación de las relaciones laborales a nivel global. El alojamiento de los trabajadores en las obras es una estrategia cada vez más extendida para que los empresarios capitalistas puedan explotar la mano de obra migrante aún más de lo que ya hacen.

scholarly journals “The lottery of my life”: Migration trajectories and the production of precarity among Bangladeshi migrant workers in Singapore's construction industry

2018 ◽  
Vol 27 (3) ◽  
pp. 249-272 ◽  
Author(s):  
Grace Baey ◽  
Brenda S. A. Yeoh
Keyword(s):  
Labor Markets ◽  
Construction Industry ◽  
Migrant Workers ◽  
Labor Migration ◽  
Legal Status ◽  
Construction Workers ◽  
Host Society ◽  
Precarious Employment ◽  
Employment Conditions ◽  
Migration Industry

Within the scholarship on precarity, low-waged contract-based migrants are recognized as centrally implicated in precarious employment conditions at the bottom of neoliberal capitalist labor markets. Precarity as a socially corrosive condition stems from both the multiple insecurities of the workplace as disposable labor, and a sense of deportability as migrant subjects with marginal socio-legal status in the host society. Our study of Bangladeshi construction workers in Singapore contributes to refining understandings of precarity by approaching labor migration as a cumulative, intensively mediated process, whereby risks and vulnerabilities are compounded across different sites in migrants’ trajectories, even as they enact themselves as mobile, aspiring subjects. As a condition-in-the-making, precarity is experienced and compounded, through a continuum beginning in pre-migration indebtedness, multiplying through entanglements with the migration industry, and manifesting in workplace vulnerabilities at destination. It is most finely balanced when predictability and planning yield to arbitrary hope.

scholarly journals Safety Helmet Wearing Management System for Construction Workers Using Three-Axis Accelerometer Sensor

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
SungHun Kim ◽  
Changwon Wang ◽  
Se Dong Min ◽  
Seung-Hyun Lee
Keyword(s):  
Construction Industry ◽  
Management System ◽  
Safety Management ◽  
High Accuracy ◽  
Construction Workers ◽  
Construction Sites ◽  
Accelerometer Sensor ◽  
Sensing Data ◽  
Develop Technology ◽  
Technical Studies

In the Korean construction industry, legal and institutional safety management improvements are continually being pursued. However, there was a 4.5% increase in the number of workers’ deaths at construction sites in 2017 compared to the previous year. Failure to wear safety helmets seems to be one of the major causes of the increase in accidents, and so it is necessary to develop technology to monitor whether or not safety helmets are being used. However, the approaches employed in existing technical studies on this issue have mainly involved the use of chinstrap sensors and have been limited to the problem of whether or not safety helmets are being worn. Meanwhile, improper wearing, such as when the chinstrap and harness fixing of the safety helmet are not properly tightened, has not been monitored. To remedy this shortcoming, a sensing safety helmet with a three-axis accelerometer sensor attached was developed in this study. Experiments were performed in which the sensing data were classified whether the safety helmet was being worn properly, not worn, or worn improperly during construction workers’ activities. The results verified that it is possible to differentiate among wearing status of the proposed safety helmet with a high accuracy of 97.0%

scholarly journals Critical Review of Construction Accident Causation Theories and Models: The Need for Improved Models

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Opeyemi Samuel Williams ◽  
Razali Adul Hamid ◽  
Mohd Saidin Misnan
Keyword(s):  
Construction Industry ◽  
Preventive Measures ◽  
Health And Safety ◽  
Building Construction ◽  
Review Of Literature ◽  
Construction Sites ◽  
Occupational Risks ◽  
Accident Causation ◽  
Improved Model ◽  
Construction Accidents

Construction industry is recognized and best described as an accident-prone industry, being characterized with a plethora of occupational risks. Review of literature on construction accidents revealed that a copious number of theories have been propounded over the years by different theorists, though some of these theories were criticized. In addition to this were the multifarious models developed by different proponents at different times. However, accidents are an unplanned event that are common on the building construction sites, involving materials, objects and people with attendant damages, loses and injuries. Moreover, existing models were developed to investigate the causations of accident with the aim of preventing its occurrence. Effort to analyze the existing models, with criticism in view, was the aim of this research, which was accomplished by pointing out the limitations of applicability of the models and ascertaining the need for an improved model. A major gap was discovered, in that most of these models concentrated on accident causations and investigations with little or no emphasis on preventive measures via the duties of the construction stakeholders (client, consultant, contractor, health and safety agency) at the preconstruction and during construction stages. Having considered the strengths and weaknesses of the existing models, it was discovered that another, but improved, model was needed and such model will consequently enable construction stakeholders in putting up and implementing accident preventive measures on the building construction sites, as all stakeholders have significant roles to play in preventing accident.

scholarly journals The Competency Level of Indonesian Migrant Workers in Malaysia

2019 ◽  
Vol 8 (5C) ◽  
pp. 314-317
Keyword(s):  
Developing Countries ◽  
Construction Industry ◽  
Human Resource ◽  
Migrant Workers ◽  
Construction Workers ◽  
Industry Data ◽  
Competency Level ◽  
Survey Questionnaires

Poor competency of construction workers in the construction industry is considered one of the most discouraging human resource issues in developing countries. This paper reports an investigation into the competency level of Indonesian migrant workers in the Malaysian construction industry. Data from this research was collected from the survey questionnaires with 300 Indonesian migrant workers. Results indicated that the levels of knowledge, skill and attitude among Indonesian migrant workers towards the trades in the construction industry only showed moderate levels. Suggestions for ways to overcome skill gap among Indonesian migrant workers were given in order to enhance their competency level in the construction industry.

scholarly journals Analyzing the Risk of Safety Accidents: The Relative Risks of Migrant Workers in Construction Industry

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (13) ◽  
pp. 5430
Author(s):  
Ji-Myong Kim ◽  
Kiyoung Son ◽  
Sang-Guk Yum ◽  
Sungjin Ahn
Keyword(s):  
Risk Factors ◽  
Construction Industry ◽  
Migrant Workers ◽  
Safety Management ◽  
Construction Workers ◽  
Risk Indicators ◽  
Accident Risk ◽  
Relative Risks ◽  
Accident Data ◽  
Safety Accident

This study analyzed the relative risks of migrant workers, and identified risk factors based on quantitative data for the systematic safety management of migrant workers. Many studies have found that migrant workers are more vulnerable to safety accidents than non-migrant workers. Nevertheless, there are few quantitative studies of migrant workers’ accident-risk in the construction industry, where safety accidents are most frequent. In addition, safety management for the identified accident risk factors has not been implemented systematically. To fill the gap, this study uses safety accident data from construction sites, from the +, for the methodical safety management of migrant workers. The t-test and multiple regression analysis methods are used to define the variance in non-migrant and migrant workers, and the risk indicators, respectively. The two analyses show that the results for migrant construction workers were 2.2% higher in safety accident severity than non-migrant workers, and significant factors are also different. This study’s results will provide critical guidance for the safety management of migrant construction workers.

A Review of Risk Perception in Construction Industry

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Karla Gómez-Bull
Keyword(s):  
Risk Perception ◽  
Construction Industry ◽  
Construction Workers ◽  
Specific Information ◽  
Safety Behavior ◽  
Personal Traits ◽  
Construction Organizations ◽  
Legal Implications ◽  
Occupational Characteristics ◽  
Perception Process

The construction industry has been notorious for its high rates of accidents and injuries associated with social, financial, and legal implications. Previous studies mention that risk perception is related to workers´ safety behavior and, therefore, accidents. This review aims to identify in which context risk perception has been studied in recent years and the variables associated with it. Google Scholar and Science Direct databases were searched for articles using the following keywords: “risk perception,” “construction industry”, and “safety behavior.” The inclusion criteria were that the articles answered the questions formulated in the spider methodology. Sixty-three articles were included in the literature review. The results indicated that risk perception is a subjective judgment that results from the combination of the likelihood perception of a specific risk being present and the severity perception of the risk if it occurs. The risk perception has been studied in different areas such as tourism, driving behavior, electricians, firefighters, and confrontation to viruses or pandemic, and the construction industry. Personal traits, sociodemographic variables, cultural factors, and occupational characteristics (training in security, experience, and seniority at work) have been addressed to study risk perception in construction workers. Safety must be a priority for construction organizations. This study highlights the importance of studying risk perception in the workplace since construction workers are exposed to risky activities at work. Also, it is important to understand the risk perception process and its contributory factors for construction workers. It is possible to have specific information that helps design actions for effective risk management and prevent the number of accidents and fatalities from increasing.

Gendered encounters in mobility: Women researching migrant construction workers

Ethnography ◽  
2021 ◽  
pp. 146613812110382
Author(s):  
Luana Gama Gato ◽  
Anna Matyska
Keyword(s):  
Sexual Harassment ◽  
Construction Industry ◽  
Knowledge Production ◽  
Migrant Workers ◽  
Construction Workers ◽  
Self Blame ◽  
Methodological Choices ◽  
Fieldwork Experience ◽  
Internal Migrants ◽  
Conducting Research

Writing about sexism and sexual harassment in the field is still generally discouraged outside gender ethnography, despite a growing gender reflexivity in research. This is mostly due to certain established norms and expectations about ethnographic work that tend to ignore how these issues contribute to women’s fieldwork experiences and subsequent ethnographic accounts. In this article, we go against this tendency by setting out our gendered experiences as female ethnographers conducting research on labor mobility in the male-dominated construction industry among Brazilian internal migrants in Rio de Janeiro and among Polish migrant workers in Europe. We foreground how gendered dynamics affected our fieldwork experience and how they generated a degree of self-doubt and self-blame about our methodological choices. Our hope is that writing about our experiences will help female ethnographers to better prepare for and consider the different kinds of sexism that will inevitably shape their knowledge production.

scholarly journals EVIDENCE‐BASED PREVENTION OF WORK‐RELATED MUSCULOSKELETAL INJURIES IN CONSTRUCTION INDUSTRY

2010 ◽  
Vol 16 (4) ◽  
pp. 499-509 ◽  
Author(s):  
Romuald A. Rwamamara ◽  
Ove Lagerqvist ◽  
Thomas Olofsson ◽  
Bo M. Johansson ◽  
Kazys Algirdas Kaminskas
Keyword(s):  
Best Practices ◽  
Construction Industry ◽  
Construction Projects ◽  
Planning Process ◽  
Health And Safety ◽  
Construction Workers ◽  
Musculoskeletal Health ◽  
Construction Sites ◽  
Safety Issues ◽  
Work Related

Many construction work tasks are physically very strenuous and the incidence of work‐related musculoskeletal disorders (WMSDs) among construction workers is considerably higher than those in most other occupations. The aim of the study presented in this paper was to contribute to understanding a healthy construction site brought about by the best practices implemented by large construction sites to prevent WMSDs. A triangulation method made of interviews, site observations and studies on company's documents was used to identify the best practices in 13 several construction projects. A range of the best practices both in the pre‐construction and construction phases of the projects were identified in six different areas of the balance of the construction workplace system; however, there seems to be a significant need for good practices in the management of a systematic work environment. It is now established that Swedish construction industry has several best practices to protect work‐related musculoskeletal health. However, inadequate worker participation and the neglect of health and safety issues by designers in the planning process as well as the implications of some remuneration methods on the production schedule were perceived as detrimental to the musculoskeletal health of construction workers. Santrauka Daug statybos darbu yra fiziškai labai itempti, o su darbu susijusiu raumenu ir skeleto sistemos pažeidimu dažnis tarp statybininku yra kur kas aukštesnis negu tarp daugelio kitu profesiju. Šio tyrimo tikslas – pletoti supratima apie sveikatos būkle ir jos svarba dirbant statybu aikštelese, igyvendinant didelius statybos objektus, siekiant išvengti su darbu susijusiu raumenu ir skeleto sistemos pažeidimu. Tyrimams buvo taikytas interviu, pagristas trianguliacijos metodu, darbo procesu stebejimo statybos aikštelese metodas, buvo nagrineti statybos kompaniju dokumentai, siekiant identifikuoti 13 skirtingu statybos projektu. Geriausia praktika, prieš pradedant statybas ir jau statant, buvo nustatyta šešiuose skirtinguose statybu regionuose, tačiau tokia praktika yra svarbi darbo aplinkos vadyboje. Pripažinta, kad Švedijos statybos pramoneje taikomi keli būdai, kaip apsaugoti statybininkus nuo raumenu ir skeleto sistemos pažeidimu. Vis delto mažas darbininku domejimasis šia problema, sveikatos bei saugos problemu nepaisymas planavimo procese, kai kuriu atsilyginimo būdu itraukimas i gamybos veiksniu saraša buvo vertinti kaip faktoriai, žalingai veikiantys statybininku raumenu ir skeleto sistema.

Is money always the most important thing? Polish construction workers in Ireland

2018 ◽  
Vol 26 (2) ◽  
pp. 162-182 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alicja Bobek ◽  
James Wickham ◽  
Elaine Moriarty ◽  
Justyna Salamońska
Keyword(s):  
Construction Industry ◽  
Migrant Workers ◽  
Panel Study ◽  
Construction Workers ◽  
Celtic Tiger ◽  
Family Issues ◽  
Complex Picture ◽  
Economic Migration ◽  
Initial Move

Migrant workers in the construction industry are often taken to be motivated purely by short-term financial gains. The dramatic influx of Polish workers into the Irish building industry during the Celtic Tiger boom thus appears a clear case of economic migration. A qualitative panel study (2008–2013) which interviewed Polish construction workers through the boom and subsequent recession reveals a more complex picture. Migrants’ initial move to Ireland was sometimes motivated partly by non-financial concerns such as the desire for new experiences. When the construction industry crashed, many migrants did leave Ireland, but interviews with them back in Poland showed that family issues such as children’s education had been important. Many migrants remained in Ireland, sometimes facilitated by access to unemployment benefits. The Polish construction workers included some with technical and professional qualifications and these appear more likely to have stayed in Ireland. This decision often involved re-training for a new career and was motivated by new social relationships and a perceived better quality of life. These findings suggest that the issues raised by contemporary lifestyle migration are relevant even for some construction workers.

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