Migrant Construction Workers Research Articles

A web-based safety management platform to enhance safety for Chinese migrant construction workers

Over the past decade, existing research has investigated various solutions to enhance safety management on construction sites. Among the many solutions, developing a web-based safety platform has increasingly become a key element in safety improvement strategies. International research shows that safety management platforms improve migrant workers’ safety, but evidence for such interventions in New Zealand, especially for Chinese migrant construction workers, remains limited. This study built a web prototype catering to Chinese migrant construction workers in New Zealand. The data collection method was semi-structured interviews, and the effectiveness of the novel web prototype was validated based on respondents’ feedback. Results show that this safety web prototype can effectively improve the safety knowledge and safety awareness of Chinese migrant construction workers by providing local safety policies and conducting multi-frequency long-term safety training tests. The incentive function in this web prototype can motivate Chinese migrant construction workers to use this application and enhance their safety compliance. The limitations of this research include geographical restrictions and a small sample size to evaluate the effectiveness of the prototype. Future research should incorporate a larger, cross-sectional sample to assess the effectiveness of web-based safety awareness solutions, enabling more generalizable conclusions for construction workers of diverse nationalities and regions.

Occupational Accidents, Injuries, and Associated Factors among Migrant and Domestic Construction Workers in Saudi Arabia

Occupational Accidents, Injuries, and Associated Factors among Migrant and Domestic Construction Workers in Saudi Arabia

The Burden of Protozoal and Helminth Intestinal Infections and Related Risk Factors Among the Households of Migrant Construction Workers in Bhopal.

There are a few existing gaps and paucity of literature from Southeast Asia on the prevalence of intestinal parasitic infections among migrant construction workers. The present cross-sectional study was conducted to address this gap among migrant construction workers and their households in Bhopal. The study design included an interview questionnaire survey prior to the enrollment of participants and stool sample collection. The stool samples were processed according to the study protocol of macroscopy, occult blood testing, microscopy techniques combined with modified acid-fast, and sedimentation techniques. Participants were deemed positive if they exhibited microscopic findings in one out of three stool samples per recruit.We recommended clinical consultation for these cases and provided a report. Direct therapeutic intervention was not part of the study. The total recruits were 361. The predominant age group was young, i.e., aged 21 to 30 years(122/361, 33.8%), with the majority of females (55.2%). Most workers were occupied with work of digging soil (47.4%). The majority of participants (93.1%) practiced open field defecation (OFD). The prevalence of intestinal parasitic infections among migrant workers and households was 36.9% (133/361). Monoinfection was 88.7%, with 41% fromEntamoeba histolytica/Entamoeba dispar.MonoinfectionwithHymenolepis nana (10.2%)was apredominant helminth. The most commoncoinfection observed was ofGiardia intestinalis with Ancylostoma duodenale (26.7%). Hand washing was the only independent predictor with an odds ratio of 3.6. Migrant behavior of the construction workers and their households was the major reason for not reaching the benefits of deworming schemes for childrenand vulnerability to intestinal parasitic infections.

Relationship Between Safety Climate And Safety Performance Of Migrant Workers in Abu Dhabi’s Construction Industry

Introduction: The safety of migrant construction workers is increasingly becoming a worldwide issue, and addressing this requires identifying the critical relationship between safety climate and safety performance. This research aimed to evaluate this relationship and to give proper attention to enhance the overall safety performance of construction workers. Methods: To assess the relationship between safety climate and safety performance of migrant construction workers, a cross-sectional study was conducted among 141 migrant construction workers, from the 2 industrial zones of Abu Dhabi. Sociodemographic characteristics, safety climate, and safety performance were assessed by using a specifically designed questionnaire for the construction industry. The collected data were analysed by SPSS 27.0 using descriptive statistics and χ2 test. Results: The investigation’s findings revealed a positive correlation between the safety climate and safety performance. However, the weakest correlation was found in the workers’ comprehension of safety rules and procedures. Conclusion: Construction workers with less experience and lower education, aged 30 years or below, with no dependents to support, with smoking and drinking habits needs to be focused on the augmentation of their safety performance through safety awareness, relevant safety education, training and with the implementation of safety rules and procedures.

Dental caries, oral hygiene status and deleterious habits among migrant construction workers of Belagavi, India.

Occupation significantly influences oral health, with factors like the work environment, stress levels, access to dental care, and job-related habits playing crucial roles. The oral health of construction workers, especially migrant workers, is a noteworthy concern. Understanding the oral health of this population is crucial for enhancing their quality of life through various means. This study aimed to investigate the prevalence of dental caries, oral hygiene status, and deleterious habits in this occupational group of Belagavi district, Karnataka. Study design was cross-sectional in nature. Before commencement of the study a pilot study was conducted. Multi-stage random sampling technique was employed, and 610 participants were recruited for the study. Trained and calibrated examiners recorded WHO dentition status and treatment needs (2013) and Oral Hygiene Index Simplified (OHI-S). Collected data was analyzed using descriptive analysis, chi-square, one-way ANOVA, and multiple linear regression analysis. The prevalence of dental caries among construction workers was significantly high (81%), and poor oral hygiene was observed among 36.9% of them. The prevalence of smoking, the tobacco chewing habit, and alcohol consumption among the construction workers was found to be 21.6%, 59.9%, and 37.3%, respectively. The dependence of OHI-S and DMFT on predictors (age, gender and deleterious habits) was found to be 21.5% and 39.6%, respectively. Migrant construction workers in Belagavi had a high caries prevalence, poor oral hygiene status, and a high prevalence of deleterious habits such as tobacco use. These results emphasize the necessity of awareness and dental health education programs to improve the oral health of construction workers.

Examining the Demographic, Socio-cultural, and Economic Dimensions of In-migrant Construction Workers: A Case Study on Internal Migration Trends, Working Conditions, and Quality of Life

According to the International Organization for Migration (IOM) of the United Nations, the global scenario for the number of international migrants increased to 281 million in 2020, meaning that 3.6% of the world's population lived outside their country of birth in that year. The objective of the study demographic condition of the internal migration population, working conditions of in migrant construction workers, inmigrant construction workers socio culture condition, psychological condition, the consequences and problems faced unorganized migrant construction workers. The research study adopted Descriptive Research design for the present study because the primary of the study is to attain information concerning the existing status of quality of life of migrant construction workers. The researcher moved to another location with the reference of previous contact, in the way, snowball sampling method was used to access the required number of population. It was noted that the majority of the construction workers were semi-skilled and were illiterate. Most of the respondents spoke Hindi as their major language, 38 percent of them spoke Oriya. The workers are said to be receiving monthly wages and the majority of them have a monthly income of up to Rs.10,000 on a average. It was identified that construction workers migrated from other states at 19 to 25 years. Temporary migrants migrating with their families are found to be higher. Among the migrant construction workers within the age group of 26 to 35 years migrate more than others. Sizeable size 94 percent of the respondents belong to the male category, most of the people working as a construction labourers are married. Among the in-migrant construction workers, migrants from Odisha are more in number, followed by people from West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and other states. The Hindu community is dominated in number compared to Muslim and Christian community.

Migrant Construction Workers in Chennai City: A Study of Their Lives During the Pandemic

Migrant Construction Workers in Chennai City: A Study of Their Lives During the Pandemic

Gendered disciplinary apparatuses and carceral domesticities in Singapore’s labour-migration regime

It is widely acknowledged that Singapore’s labour-migration regime is unequal and bifurcated, with migrants that are categorised as foreign professionals afforded many more rights than those categorised as migrant workers. While migrant construction, process, and shipyard workers are expected to reside in dormitories or other shared accommodation, migrant domestic workers are mandated to live in their employers’ homes, where their gendered bodies are confined and disciplined. Based on ethnographic fieldwork, in this article I demonstrate that Singapore’s labour-migration regime is underpinned with a carceral logic that imposes bodily controls on domestic workers through policy, legal regulations, and practices which, I argue, constitute gendered disciplinary apparatuses. Moreover, by examining migrant domestic workers’ everyday experiences, I suggest that different dwelling spaces – namely, employers’ homes and shelters – can be conceptualised as carceral domesticities. Utilised by the state as carceral infrastructure, I show the ways in which these dwelling spaces become geographies of detainment and punishment, in/through which different actors become involved in disciplining intimacy, morality, and maintaining socio-racial order in the nation. Simultaneously, the carceral nature of the labour-migration regime produces forms of domesticity which relies on the containment of migrant workers.

Technologies of migration and citizenship: Life and work at the base of Shanghai’s digital infrastructure stack

Although material components of digital infrastructure stacks are often understood as operating through platforms or protocols in a smoothly interconnected way, their expansion, repair, and continued functionality nevertheless require significant interventions in the material world. These include the installation, repair, and maintenance of fiber-optic backbones, as well as the disruption of everyday residential life for the purpose of “last mile” fiber installations. Based on participant observation conducted with construction teams engaged in rebuilding the base level of Shanghai’s digital infrastructure stack, this article questions “plug-and-play” views of Chinese digital infrastructure, instead refocusing analysis on the legal and sociocultural technologies that facilitate material infrastructural construction. In the case of Shanghai’s Overhead-Underground project, legal and social mechanisms that facilitate migration have themselves become crucial to the physical aspects of digital infrastructure, which is built through subcontracted low-waged labor systems that rely on assumedly temporary rural-to-urban migrant labor. The resulting systems of labor provision both reflect and maintain the structure of a politically divided public: High-quality “smart city” infrastructure is built for the service of an avowedly urban public, but only through a reliance on “low-skilled” rural migrant construction workers, who are formally and informally excluded from the city their infrastructural interventions are designed to serve.

Interregional migration of construction workers in China: roles of employment opportunities and environment amenities

PurposeWithin the labor-intensive construction industry characterized by distinctly structural shortages in the labor force worldwide, efficient and effective migration of construction workers across regions is critical for the smooth operation of construction activities. This study aims to investigate how the interregional migration patterns of construction workers are impacted by the disparities in both employment opportunities and environment amenities between the origin and destination provinces.Design/methodology/approachDrawing on the push and pull theory and the archival data on 13,728 migrant construction workers in China, descriptive analyses are first performed to characterize the interregional migration patterns of the investigated construction workers. Combining regional data in the National Bureau of Statistics of China, this study uses hierarchical regression modeling techniques to empirically test the relative importance of the employment-related and environment-related factors in driving the interregional migration of construction workers after controlling for the effects of related economic and geographic factors.FindingsThe results provide evidence that the interregional migration of construction workers is principally driven by the disparities in employment opportunities while disparities in environment amenities (including climate comfort disparity, medical service disparity and educational service disparity) generally play much fewer substantive roles. With regard to the impacts of employment opportunities, the results provide evidence that compared with the disparity in job market size, the disparities in job income and industry development level are more significantly relevant factors, which positively pull and adversely push the interregional migration flows, respectively.Research limitations/implicationsThis study contributes to a deepened understanding of how workers specifically balance their employment and amenity needs to make temporary migration decisions in the “laggard” labor-intensive construction industry. This study also adds to the literature on population migration by characterizing the specific characteristics of construction workers and the temporary nature of the workers' migration activities. The findings hold important practical implications for construction organizations and policymakers for effectively managing the mobility of migrant construction workers.Originality/valueThe extant literature on migrant construction workers has primarily focused on the consequences of international migration and the generalization of empirical findings on population migration mechanisms in other domains to the construction industry is substantially limited by the specific characteristics of construction workers and the temporary nature of their migration activities. In addressing this gap, this study represents an exploratory effort to quantitatively characterize the interregional migration patterns of construction workers in the labor-intensive construction industry and examines the roles of employment opportunity and environmental amenity in driving interregional migration.

Hebrew Labor without Hebrew Workers: The Histadrut, Palestinian Workers, and the Israeli Construction Industry

The Histadrut was founded in 1920 to organize the so-called Zionist conquest of labor, which aimed to exclude Palestinian workers from the economy. While this ideology was central to the Yishuv, labor shortages and settler-colonial expansion following the establishment of the State of Israel in 1948 led to the integration of Palestinian workers in the workforce. Focusing on the construction industry, this article explores the ways in which the Histadrut’s contemporary membership structure, collective agreements, and relationship to the Israeli state serve to further institutionalize a highly racialized and segregated sector. Palestinian and migrant construction workers toil in dangerous circumstances for low pay, without union protection, and under the supervision of unionized Jewish managers and engineers.

Optimizing health and nutrition status of migrant construction workers consuming multiple micronutrient fortified rice in Singapore.

A well-nourished workforce is instrumental in eradicating hunger, alleviating poverty, and spurring economic growth. A fifth of the total workforce in high-income countries are migrant workers. Despite the accessibility of nutritious foods in high-income countries, migrant workers often rely on nutrient-poor diets largely consisting of empty calories, which in turn leads to vitamin and mineral deficiency, also called hidden hunger, and resultant productivity loss. Here, we study the magnitude of hidden hunger in male migrant construction workers in Singapore and investigate the impact of consuming fortified rice for 6 consecutive months on the nutrition and health status of these workers. 140 male migrant workers aged 20-51 years of either Bangladeshi or Indian ethnicity from a single dormitory in Singapore volunteered to participate in the study. In total, 133 blood samples were taken at the start of the study and were used to assess vitamin B12, hemoglobin, ferritin, folate, and zinc levels; a sub-sample underwent for homocysteine testing. Anthropometric measurements and vital signs, such as blood pressure, were recorded before and after the intervention. The results show that vitamin and mineral deficiency was present, especially folate (59% of workers deficient) and vitamin B12 (7% deficient, 31% marginally deficient). The consumption of fortified rice significantly improved the vitamin, iron and zinc level in the workers and significantly reduced the systolic blood pressure amongst the Bangladeshi migrant workers, specifically. Our study demonstrates that fortified rice may have a positive impact on male migrant construction worker health and nutrition status at the workplace.

Determinants of Tobacco Use among Immigrant Workers Around a University in South India – A Qualitative Approach

Background: According to the global adult tobacco survey – prevalence of smokeless tobacco (SLT) use in India is highest in the world and 60% of tobacco users in India currently use SLT products. The prevalence of SLT use among women in Karnataka is 14.7%, among immigrant women daily wage workers is 87.2%. There is paucity of information about tobacco consumption among females, especially which calls for an urgent need to address the issue. Aim: The aim of this study was to examine underlying factors which initiated SLT use and their knowledge levels about its ill effects among immigrant daily wage workers in a University setting of South India. Settings and Design: This was a qualitative study conducted at office sites (n = 6) within University Premises of Manipal, Karnataka. Materials and Methods: The focus group and interview guides were semi-structure in nature and developed in the context of a guide to a conversation/discussion. It covered all research questions that could be answered by this qualitative approach. Statistical Analysis: Thematic analysis was used to report and interpret the findings. Results and Conclusion: A total of six focus group discussion’s (n = 55 participants) and 20 in-depth interview’s (n = 20 participants) were conducted. Themes emerged – “Factors for uptake of SLT use,” “Poor knowledge on adverse effects of SLT use,” “Easy Availability and Accessibility,” and “Thoughts and Suggestions on quitting.” Reappraising social determinants in access to tobacco prevention and cessation support services to migrant construction workers may be a promising strategy to reduce health harms of SLT use.

Who builds Shanghai's fiber-optic network? Thinking urban infrastructure through migrant construction labor

While a growing body of literature understands infrastructure through the social relations and labor that make it possible, the work of construction in infrastructure projects remains under-theorized. Drawing on participatory research with migrant construction workers in Shanghai, China, I consider the outcomes of a reliance on informal, migrant labor in Shanghai's multi-year “Overhead-Underground” infrastructure renovation project, which moves overhead fiber-optics cabling underground. Like other Chinese infrastructure projects, this reconstruction of Shanghai's fiber-optic network relies on large quantities of on-the-ground construction labor, drawn from a low-wage, precarious, and largely informal migrant workforce that is not expected not be incorporated into the city. Through engagement with scholarship that has viewed people and social relationships as infrastructure, I demonstrate the processes by which informal migrant construction labor facilitates both physical construction and the accumulation of infrastructural knowledge, both of which are necessary to the completion of infrastructural upgrading projects.

Building bridges: the bilingual language work of migrant construction workers

The construction industry (CI) employs significant numbers of migrant workers, making construction sites multilingual spaces. Workers who do not share a common language work alongside each other, posing issues for safety, integration and productivity. Methods used to overcome these language barriers include the use of bilingual workers as informal interpreters. The prevalence and importance of informal interpreters is recognized in the literature. However, their language work is not well understood, and hence, the research question addressed is: what language work do the informal interpreters do and how? This study uses the theoretical lens of translanguaging to conceptualize communication onsite between speakers of different named languages, emphasizing the flexible and multimodal nature of language in use. An ethnographic approach is adopted, comprising 40 international informal interviews, and observational field notes and material data from the UK. The language work of the informal interpreters is explored through this data and theoretical lens; their language tasks and the nature of their language work is identified, including the use of visuals, gesture, and technology. Far from being straightforward and predictable, the findings show that the scope of their language work varies considerably. In this informal language work, the boundaries between languages and of what constitutes interpretation are blurred. A novel aspect of language work emerges from the data, showing that this often includes mediation. This study clarifies understandings of communication and informal interpretation on multilingual construction sites and these findings could contribute to future best practice on the use of bilingual workers as informal interpreters.

Health and safety risk of migrant construction workers–a systematic literature review

PurposeThe aim of this paper is to review and analyze the research literature on the health and safety issues of migrant workers in the construction industry from 2000 to 2022.Design/methodology/approach5 steps method is used to conduct a systematic review to achieve the objectives. After scanning two authoritative search engines “Web of Science” and “Scope”, 60 articles are selected from 225 publications for identification and review. These identified articles are classified by research fields, countries and time span.FindingsThe review finds that with the increasing influence of migrant construction workers, the number of publications on the health and safety of migrant workers has shown a rapid upward trend. Moreover, language barriers are the most dominant safety risk factors encountered by on-site migrant workers. This systematic literature review also summarizes the definition of migrant workers and solutions to reduce safety risk factors.Originality/valueThe research data on the health and safety issues and risk factors of migrant workers in the construction industry is still limited. This literature review summarizes the research trends and contributions of the literature in this field in the past 22 years and provides theoretical support for future research on the safety management of the migration construction field.

Occupational Dust Exposure and Respiratory Protection of Migrant Interior Construction Workers in Two Chinese Cities.

Migrant interior construction workers are increasing in China. Construction workers are at an increased risk of work-related illness (WRI) due to prolonged exposure to and inhalation of dust. Dust concentrations in the air can be reduced significantly with effective respiratory protection measures. We assessed the dust exposure and factors associated with respiratory protection of migrant interior construction workers. The total dust concentration in the workplace ranged from 0.07 to 335.27 mg/m3, with a total dust exceedance rate of 50.00%. The respiratory dust loading ranged from 0.03 to 220.27 mg/m3, with a respiratory dust exceedance rate of 71.42 %. The highest total dust concentration occurred when masons were polishing cement walls. We performed a questionnaire survey of 296 persons in two cities in China, in which 87.84% had no respiratory protection or only one protection measure. Gender, workplace, respiratory disease, and protective attitude all had an effect on the level of respiratory protection. The dust exposure in most jobs exceeds hygiene standards. The respiratory protection of migrant interior construction workers in China is inadequate.

Reasons for Migration and Socio-Economic Status of Migrant Construction Workers in North India

Reasons for Migration and Socio-Economic Status of Migrant Construction Workers in North India

Effectiveness of peer support to reduce depression, anxiety and stress among migrant construction workers in Singapore

PurposeThe aim of this study was to determine the effectiveness of promoting peer support to reduce depression, anxiety and stress among migrant construction workers in Singapore.Design/methodology/approachThis longitudinal study drew participants from migrant workers of various nationalities in the construction sector in Singapore. Baseline data pertaining to depression, anxiety and stress was established using the DASS-21 questionnaire, and salient covariates such as demographic factors and work environment factors recorded using suitable questionnaires. Intervention was training of participants on peer support techniques, supplemented by episodic support by trained counsellors. At the end of 6 months, DASS-21 was again deployed to obtain the post-results. Comparison of baseline with post-results data was performed to evaluate effectiveness of the peer support intervention.FindingsStatistically significant reduction was observed in measures of all the three parameters studied, namely, depression, anxiety and stress. A decrease of 3.3 (95% CI:2.3 to 4.3) points in mean depression score, a decrease of 2.6 (95% CI: 1.6 to 3.7) points in mean anxiety score and a decrease of 2.7 (with 95% CI: 1.6 to 4.0) points in mean stress scores on the DASS-21 scale were recorded. Conclusions: Peer support is effective in improving mental health of migrant workers in the construction sector in Singapore. This intervention should be considered among other measures to improve their welfare.Originality/valueThis is the first paper that talks about the mental health of migrant workers pre-COVID and hence would be a strong paper for the future comparative studies for pre-and post-COVID periods. This is the first paper that addresses the benefits of peer-support among migrant workers to improve their mental wellbeing.

Working without Wages: Network Structure and Migrant Construction Workers’ Protests in China

AbstractMigrant construction workers are among the most vulnerable working populations in China as they are prone to facing the problem of wage arrears under the multi-tier subcontracting system. Based on ethnographic research of migrant construction workers in Tianjin, Shenzhen, Nanchang and Shaoguan, we examine workers’ divergent responses to wage arrears. While extant literature focuses on the positive role of informal networks in facilitating collective action, our findings indicate that the network structure between labour subcontractors and migrant workers plays a key role in enabling or constraining labour protests. We identify two network structures: the satellite network – characterized by arm's-length relationships between subcontractors and clusters of workers; and the spider-web network – characterized by strong relationships between subcontractors and their workers. We found that workers in satellite networks were prone to stage protests over wage arrears, but those in spider-web networks never held collective actions when facing the same problem. We argue that strong guanxi is a double-edged sword for the mobilization of labour protests and that workers’ responses to wage arrears are mediated through the network structure. Future studies may further scrutinize the role of a social network and its operating mechanisms in shaping workers’ working conditions and labour politics.