Perception of masonry workers on health and safety risks in informal construction sites in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania

Abstract

Informal construction (IC) is coined from an informal economy (IE). It involves unlicensed and unregulated individuals engaged in construction-related activities. Because it is unregulated, IC poses health and safety risks (HSR). This study identified and ranked the perception of HSR by masonry workers (MW) in informal construction sites (ICS) in Tanzania. A number of 19 HSRs were found in the literature, and then, the data were collected through questionnaires from 304 MW in ICS and 10 semi-structured interviews. The study employed a convergence concurrent mixed methods approach, whereby for quantitative data, descriptive statistics and inferential statistics (one-sample t-tests) were used, and for qualitative data, directed content analysis was employed. The results showed that ‘skin sanitizers, irritants’, ‘sickness due to poor drinking water or poor toilet facilities’ and ‘injury or death due to falling from height’ were the most perceived HSRs by workers in IC. In contrast, ‘bullying and stress’, ‘diseases caused by exposure to airborne fibres and toxic materials’ and ‘hand and vibration syndrome’ are the least perceived HSRs. The study provides useful insights into the perception of MW on HSR in IC, which can be used as a baseline for good practice for policy directions in developing countries.