scholarly journals An Innovated Integrated Prefabricated Quarter System for the Migrant On-site Construction Workers of China

2015 ◽  
pp. 233-246
Author(s):  
Tao Wang ◽  
Yulong Li ◽  
Guijun Li ◽  
Sijia Wu
Keyword(s):  
Construction Industry ◽  
Migrant Workers ◽  
Rural Areas ◽  
Health And Safety ◽  
Living Conditions ◽  
Urban China ◽  
Construction Workers ◽  
Current Status ◽  
Traditional System ◽  
The Government

Migrant construction workers from rural communities are the main workforce in the Chinese construction industry and urban development. While far from hometown, most migrant construction workers live in temporary quarters, with poor conditions, on or near the construction site. Although there are standards set by the government to guarantee the basic health and safety conditions of such housing, migrant construction workers in China suffer some of the worst living conditions, even compared to migrant workers in other industries. Health and safety accidents occur often enough in workers’ quarters to provoke young laborers from rural areas to seek employment in the service industry, where better living conditions are available. As a result, serious labor shortages in the construction industry have emerged in China over recent years. There is a significant requirement for the industry to improve the condition of living quarters, by applying both technical and management methods. So far, very few articles have addressed the methods for improving the accommodations for rural migrant construction workers in urban China. This paper aims to develop an innovated integrated prefabricated (prefab) quarter system for the on-site construction workers in China. The paper first discusses the current status of the traditional construction workers’ quarters to disclose the most urgent problems in need of resolution. Barriers that block the innovation of improved workers’ quarters are listed. Then an innovated integrated prefab quarter system is introduced. The feasibility and applicability of the proposed system are discussed. The strengths of the system with regard to the management of health, safety, and environment are analyzed and compared to the traditional system. An actual pilot project is studied as the validation of the prefab quarter system.

“讨薪秀”：正当权利非正式维护的实践逻辑

Rural China ◽  
2015 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 156-179
Keyword(s):  
Popular Culture ◽  
Construction Industry ◽  
Migrant Workers ◽  
Informal Economy ◽  
Construction Workers ◽  
Social Stability ◽  
Labor Laws ◽  
Economic Practices ◽  
The Government ◽  
Self Organizing

Dramatic demonstrations to ask for back wages, especially among construction workers, have attracted much attention. This paper is intended to explore the mechanism behind these demonstrations. Government and capital have reached a kind of tacit agreement centering on informal economic practices. In the opposition between capital and migrant workers, the lack of unified labor action places the latter at a disadvantage when bargaining with the former. The informal economy and its practices have encouraged capital to delay the payment of wages and have rendered the state’s labor laws largely ineffective, leaving migrant workers little choice but to go outside the law to protest. Multilayered subcontracting in the construction industry has aggravated delays in the payment of wages and has made it more difficult for workers to obtain payment. The subsistence pressures faced by the workers in their growing proletarianization have driven them to demand payment. The state’s insistence on stability, capital’s preoccupation with “rational” profit-seeking, and the elitism that currently dominates popular culture have together shaped the form of the dramatic demonstrations. To solve this problem at its root, workers’ self-organizing to change their disadvantaged status might offer a way out—something the government should encourage and support in order to maintain social stability. This article is in English. 农民工，尤其是建筑业农民工的“讨薪秀”行为得到广泛关注。本文尝试揭示该行为背后的机理。分析发现：在转型社会这个场域中，国家和资本在“发展”的大背景下达成一种“合意”，即非正规化的经济实践；在资本和农民工的博弈中，农民工尚未联合起来形成一股足以与资本议价的力量，从而处于下风。非正规经济实践放任了资本的欠薪行为，并从根本上导致了国家劳工保护性立法对于农民工的无效性，使得农民工几乎只能进行法外维权。建筑行业的劳动分包体制加剧了其欠薪的严重性和讨薪的艰难性。农民工生存权利在日益深入的无产阶级化中受到的威胁要求他们尽可能讨回薪水。处于法律之外的讨薪方式，在国家的稳定逻辑、资本的现实理性和精英主义的大众文化的共同运作下，最终聚焦于“讨薪秀”这种方式。要从根本上改变这种境况，农民工自我组织化可作为未来考虑的方向。

scholarly journals Occupational Health and Safety in the Kuwait Construction Industry: The Rationale for Research

1970 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cathy Robertson ◽  
Felicity Lamm
Keyword(s):  
Construction Industry ◽  
Migrant Workers ◽  
Small Firms ◽  
Health And Safety ◽  
Research Literature ◽  
Construction Workers ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Employment Relations ◽  
Review Of The Literature ◽  
Workplace Health

Over half of all construction businesses in Kuwait are small firms employing fewer than 10 employees, most of whom are contingent, migrant workers. There is also anecdotal evidence that the practice of employing illegal migrant labour in the Kuwaiti construction industry, particularly amongst sub-contracting firms, is rife. There are disturbing indications that the injury and illness rate amongst construction workers is extremely high. The paper will present the rationale for the proposed study and highlight the characteristics of the Kuwaiti construction industry. A brief review of the literature outlined in the paper will also attempt resolve (or not) the following questions: what are the intersections between the literature on contingent workers and the literature on OHS in the construction industry? In addition, what does the research literature say on the extension to which cultural factors shape employers' practices and attitudes toward employment relations and workplace health and safety? Finally, areas for future research on the topic will he identified and mapped out.

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.

Chinese construction worker reluctance toward vocational skill training

2019 ◽  
Vol 17 (1) ◽  
pp. 155-171
Author(s):  
Xiaoli Wang ◽  
Xincheng Wang ◽  
Yu Huang
Keyword(s):  
Construction Industry ◽  
Training Programs ◽  
Skill Training ◽  
Construction Workers ◽  
Labor Management ◽  
Training Experience ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Technological Level ◽  
The Government ◽  
Practical Implications

PurposeThough most construction workers in China possess minimal skillset, they are reluctant to attend vocational skill training sponsored by the government or enterprises. This paper aims to examine their willingness to attend the training from workers’ individual perspectives.Design/methodology/approachThe authors interviewed 492 construction workers on topics concerning their age, education, work tenure, technological level, daily wages, apprenticeship duration, apprentice channels and training experience; this information was then logistically analyzed to reveal if it influences construction workers’ willingness to attend training courses.FindingsThe results show that in a variety of possible influencing factors, technological level, apprenticeship duration and education are the most significant ones that affect construction workers’ willingness to attend vocational training. Technological level makes the greatest contribution to workers’ willingness to attend training, yet the effect of training experience and daily wages is minimal.Practical implicationsTo achieve sustainability in construction labor management, it is important to shed light on what influences worker’s willingness to attend training programs and take some efficient steps to address these issues.Originality/valueThis paper provides a new insight into the workers’ willingness to attend vocational skill training programs in the Chinse construction industry and suggests some practical implications for professionals and policymakers. Furthermore, the findings could prove valuable to other countries or industries, especially those sharing similarities to the Chinese construction industry.

scholarly journals BARRIERS TO THE DEVELOPMENT OF OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH AND SAFETY MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS IN THE NIGERIAN CONSTRUCTION INDUSTRY

2021 ◽  
Vol 6 (24) ◽  
pp. 90-99
Author(s):  
Adetunji Kamoli ◽  
Razali Adul Hamid ◽  
Syamsul Hendra Mahmud
Keyword(s):  
Construction Industry ◽  
Safety Management ◽  
Health And Safety ◽  
Occupational Accidents ◽  
Management Systems ◽  
Safety Management Systems ◽  
Construction Organizations ◽  
The Government ◽  
Lack Of Commitment ◽  
Collaborative Efforts

OHSMS has become the main part of the establishment’s lifeline and a prerequisite for its stability in the 21st century. There is a growing need for OHSMS, in its ability to solve occupational accidents and also to develop a robust relationship among the stakeholders. The mission of OHSMS has not been followed in the Nigerian construction industry. The study, therefore, explores the barriers to the development of OHSMS in the Nigerian construction industry. The study adopted a literature review of OHSMS and thereafter, 300 structured questionnaires were administered to the construction professionals in the built environment of the Nigerian nation’s Capital-Abuja. 247 of the administered questionnaires were returned, considered for the analysis of the study. The data were analysed with SPSS and excel. The findings of the study indicate that the lack of commitment of the government, inefficient regulatory authorities, and lack of expertise in the OHS activities are the major barriers to the development of OHSMS. The study recommends collaborative efforts from the construction organizations, employees, and construction professionals to support the government on the OHSMS.

scholarly journals Current Status and Challenges of Safety Education for Children, Including Those Requiring Medical Care, in Japanese General Schools: Focusing on Disasters

Children ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 7 (6) ◽  
pp. 65
Author(s):  
Tomoko Yamamoto
Keyword(s):  
Medical Care ◽  
Inclusive Education ◽  
School Safety ◽  
Disaster Preparedness ◽  
School Health ◽  
Safety Management ◽  
Health And Safety ◽  
Current Status ◽  
Safety Education ◽  
The Government

This paper discusses school safety mainly in relation to safety education and examines measures for the comprehensive development of systems to ensure the safety of children at school, including those requiring medical care. The number of children requiring medical care is increasing in general schools following the promotion of inclusive education. The government of Japan has established the School Health and Safety Act and Guidelines on School Curricula. Municipalities have developed education systems that cover the safety education specified in disaster preparedness plans for schools. Safety education has been promoted through problem-oriented and experience-based methods as well as other methods of learning to date. Considering the outcomes of these systems and approaches, it is expected that safety management systems in schools, especially general schools that include children requiring medical care, will also develop in combination with safety education.

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.

Migrant Labor Absorption in Malaysia

1992 ◽  
Vol 1 (3-4) ◽  
pp. 477-494 ◽  
Author(s):  
James Nayagam
Keyword(s):  
Construction Industry ◽  
Migrant Workers ◽  
Service Sector ◽  
Economic Restructuring ◽  
Migrant Labor ◽  
Illegal Migration ◽  
Key Sectors ◽  
Rapid Industrialization ◽  
Higher Educational Attainment ◽  
The Government

Malaysia's labor shortages can be attributed to rapid industrialization; higher educational attainment leading to external and internal migration and labor shortages; and poor wages and working conditions in plantations, the construction industry and the service sector. Such shortages have been met largely through the use of illegal migrant workers from Indonesia, south Thailand and the southern Philippines. Implementation of the government's plan for economic restructuring, 1971–1990, was assisted by such workers; however, the government has also recognized the socioeconomic problems engendered by illegal migration. Policies to facilitate temporary labor migration in key sectors are being developed.

scholarly journals Visceral Leishmaniasis in China: an Endemic Disease under Control

2015 ◽  
Vol 28 (4) ◽  
pp. 987-1004 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zhao-Rong Lun ◽  
Ming-Shui Wu ◽  
Yun-Fu Chen ◽  
Jun-Yun Wang ◽  
Xiao-Nong Zhou ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Visceral Leishmaniasis ◽  
Rural Areas ◽  
Health Workers ◽  
Sand Fly ◽  
Current Status ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Control Programs ◽  
Treatment And Prevention ◽  
Special Value ◽  
The Government

SUMMARYVisceral leishmaniasis (VL) caused byLeishmaniaspp. is an important vector-borne and largely zoonotic disease. In China, three epidemiological types of VL have been described: anthroponotic VL (AVL), mountain-type zoonotic VL (MT-ZVL), and desert-type ZVL (DT-ZVL). These are transmitted by four different sand fly species:Phlebotomus chinensis,P. longiductus,P. wui, andP. alexandri.In 1951, a detailed survey of VL showed that it was rampant in the vast rural areas west, northwest, and north of the Yangtze River. Control programs were designed and implemented stringently by the government at all administrative levels, resulting in elimination of the disease from most areas of endemicity, except the western and northwestern regions. The control programs consisted of (i) diagnosis and chemotherapy of patients, (ii) identification, isolation, and disposal of infected dogs, and (iii) residual insecticide indoor spraying for vector control. The success of the control programs is attributable to massive and effective mobilization of the general public and health workers to the cause. Nationally, the annual incidence is now very low, i.e., only 0.03/100,000 according to the available 2011 official record. The overwhelming majority of cases are reported from sites of endemicity in the western and northwestern regions. Here, we describe in some depth and breadth the current status of epidemiology, diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of the disease, with particular reference to the control programs. Pertinent information has been assembled from scattered literature of the past decades in different languages that are not readily accessible to the scientific community. The information provided constitutes an integral part of our knowledge on leishmaniasis in the global context and will be of special value to those interested in control programs.

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