News
Health & Safety Update (October 2009)
Raising Awareness in Migrant Construction Workers
The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) defines a migrant worker
as 'someone who is or has been working in Great Britain (GB) in the
last 12 months, and has come to GB from abroad to work within the
last 5 years'.
Migrant workers have historically come to Britain to work in
areas of skills shortage and to perform unskilled jobs that
employers have found difficult to fill - the latter category
includes fruit and flower picking. Migrant workers are often chosen
because of their level of skills and work ethic.
Research undertaken by the Learning and Skills Council
suggests that employers have often found them more willing, loyal
and productive than non-migrant workers.
Migration is thought to bring significant benefits to the
economy, society, culture and to migrant workers themselves.
However, in response to some public concern over the level of
inward migration, the Government has introduced a points-based
system for managing migration outside the EU. This system is akin
to that operated in Australia and New Zealand, whereby applicants
applying to work in these countries are awarded points based on
their education, skills and work experience. The intention is to
attract workers to Britain whose skills are in short supply and
differentiate between these and unskilled applicants.
The Government is concerned at the potential for abuse and
exploitation of workers from overseas and the HSE are committed to
improving health and safety protection for such workers,
irrespective of their employment or immigration status.
Recent concerns in connection with the issue of migrant workers
include licensing of gangmasters and people trafficking. Businesses
face significant fines for employing illegal workers and if
employers are found to have knowingly hired illegal workers they
could incur an unlimited fine and be sent to prison for up to two
years under the Immigration, Asylum and Nationality Act 2006. Since
May 2008 the Government has received a total of £722,500 in fines
from those found to have been using illegal workers.
The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has launched a campaign to
inform migrant construction workers based in London about on-site
health and safety. In particular, the campaign is aimed at getting
the message across to Polish workers about the role of the HSE in
helping to protect them and to make them aware that they have just
as many rights to a healthy and safe working environment as
indigenous workers. Romanian and newly-arrived Indian construction
workers are also being specifically advised.
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- a Polish outreach worker;
- health and safety information cards in Polish and other
languages, to be distributed among the community;
- a dedicated phone line;
- an online microsite at http://www.hse.gov.uk/construction/polski/;
- an email address to support and inform workers.