Impact of Covid-19 on field and office workforce in construction industry

Abstract

The COVID-19 outbreak is the greatest global health crisis in many years. It has had a dramatic effect on workforces and workplaces all around the world, as it has spawned a massive change in the working atmosphere and raised the level of employees’ concerns about their mental health and physical wellbeing. The construction industry has been significantly affected by the COVID-19 pandemic and has been challenged to improve the safety and wellbeing of its workforce. The objectives of this study are to identify the health and safety issues that construction workers have encountered during the pandemic and to recommend management strategies to combat them. A thorough literature search on recently published literature, industry experiences, reports, and other related documents was performed to collect and categorize the required data. Seventeen COVID-19 challenges were identified and classified into five categories, and the results revealed that the lack of a safe environment in the workplace, heavy workloads, home situations, and concerns about job stability often contribute to anxiety, depression, and even suicide. Eleven strategies were identified to overcome these challenges, and the results demonstrated that redefining worksite safety by placing signs, ensuring a safe distance between workers, providing sanitizers and washing stations in the fields, and utilizing effective technologies would enhance project productivity while keeping workers safe. The findings of this study will help the project managers and authorities in the construction industry understand the challenges of the pandemic and adopt effective strategies that will improve the health and safety of their workforce.

Telework and Mental Health during COVID-19

“…Our results about telework and entrapment are in accordance with the literature, but there are also other situations involving on-site workers, unemployed persons and layoff workers that might lead to entrapment [ 65 , 66 ]. It is important to note that unemployment and layoff workers were analyzed together due to the reduced number of unemployed participants.…”

“…According to the literature, people that needed to work on-site during the COVID-19 pandemic feared a possible exposure to the virus at work [ 65 ] and felt anxious about being infected by the virus [ 67 ]. Our findings suggest that this type of worker has high levels of imagined surveillance, and that this negatively impacts anxiety and stress, but that it is not directly correlated to mobile expectations.…”

Effects of COVID-19 on the Australian Economy: Insights into the Mobility and Unemployment Rates in Education and Tourism Sectors

“…NT employment rates went from 129,900 in May 2020 to 131,300 in May 2021, which reflects an increase of 1.07% increase in the overall employment across various sectors of the state [60]. However, the employment to population ratio dipped by 0.1%, and the participation rate dipped by 2.3%.…”

COVID-19 Experience Transforming the Protective Environment of Office Buildings and Spaces

“…The modes of transmission for the SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19 causing) virus are similar to those of the flu, SARS-CoV-1, MERS, and influenza viruses, which include contact, droplet, airborne, fomite, fecal-oral, blood borne, mother-to-child, and animal-to-human transmission [6]. Pamidimukkala et al [7] concluded that the virus can be transmitted from person-to-person and causes symptoms that include fever, dry cough, fatigue, and shortness of breath. Due to its strong infectious nature, extended incubation period, difficulty in detection, and vagueness in transmission modes, COVID-19 is becoming a very difficult disease to control [8].…”