The power of a pandemic: how Covid-19 should transform UK construction worker health, safety and wellbeing

Abstract

The world will never be the same again, and neither will the UK construction industry. As one of the few sectors projected to bounce back rapidly from the pandemic, positive rhetoric abounds in the industry press, Government and quasi-governmental bodies about the opportunity that lies ahead to 'Build Back Better'. Something else that could and more importantly should never be the same again is the health, safety and wellbeing (HSW) of the UK construction workforce. Pre-Covid-19, UK construction was neither a safe nor a healthy place to work, and transforming this situation is arguably the most important win our industry can secure from this situation. In this essay we argue that the pandemic and associated socio-economic crisis offers a unique, once-in-a-generation opportunity to bounce forward to a 'new normal' of healthy, safe and hygienic construction operations, one where the worker's psychological wellbeing shares the foreground with their physical welfare. This paradigm shift will require a radical redefinition of the matters of concern that shape construction practice, moving away from a focus on sites as the locus of production, to a focus on people. Moreover, we suggest that there is a concurrent obligation on the research community to support such a transition by using the pandemic as a new point of departure for shifting the safety discourse via more critical research approaches. These should question the axioms which currently define the ways in which projects are constituted and managed, and where production takes primacy over the workers that deliver it.

Health and Safety Reps in COVID-19—Representation Unleashed?

“…While tripartite structures in transport appeared effective, in the case of the health service command and control responses to the pandemic could override worker participation and in one case the union challenged such marginalisation. Sheratt and Dainty suggest, with regard to the construction industry, that COVID-19 put worker OHS front and centre with the potential for rethinking ‘sites as places of illness and infection, and to mitigate accordingly’—and the opportunity for a paradigm shift [ 21 ] (p. 6). In the construction case studies presented here, full-time seconded union Health and Safety Convenors, employed by the main contractors, underpinned a ‘partnership’ arrangement.…”

Evaluation of Factors Affecting the Competitive Advantage of Organizations in Establishing Sustainable Project Management Post Covid-19

“…It is the reason that competitive advantage of organization matters from research perspective where any change in external environment has always infuence on the future potential [36,37]. Tat is also indicated by Mahmutaj and Grubi [38] showing that many organizations have failed because of a lack of proper competitive advantage assessment in other forms of fnancial crisis before, the most important of which was in 2008 [29].…”

Sleep Quality and Fatigue in Construction Workers

“…The health, safety, and well-being of construction workers are at greater risk than workers in other industries, given the daily stress of facing potentially dangerous situations, and less visible factors, such as long working hours and temporary contracts. 16 Studies show that construction workers often sleep less than 8 hours a day, 17 which can lead to sleep deprivation, daytime sleepiness, fatigue, reduced performance, and higher risk of accidents. 3,18 In a study by Kim et al, 9 construction workers with poor sleep quality reported high levels of depression, long-term and momentary fatigue.…”