EMPLOYERS NOT DOING ENOUGH FOR MIGRANT WORKERS
(16 October 2006)

New research has revealed the risks faced by migrant workers in England and Wales and has suggested that employers are not doing enough to ensure that these workers have the correct skills and understanding. The report found that migrant workers may be experiencing higher levels of workplace accidents because they are more likely to work long hours, to work shifts and to have limited understanding of health and safety. Contributory factors also highlighted are communication difficulties and the fact migrants are more likely to take up work in sectors that they have not been trained or had experience working in.

The research was commissioned by HSE to assess whether risk of injury/ill health was greater for migrants following the apparent rise in evidence of poor standards in migrant working conditions – such as the Morecambe Bay incident in February 2004 – that were not clearly reflected in an increase in complaints or reports to HSE.

A number of workers who were surveyed for the research said they had been given no training with regard to how to do their job, or on health and safety and how to operate machinery. The majority felt that employers didn’t care about their safety, as long as the job was done. Many workers surveyed were provided with hardly any PPE, with had to buy and bring their own equipment to work, even though they couldn’t do their job without it.

Many of those surveyed said no checks were made by employers on whether they could speak English and that many employers did not check their qualifications.

Many of those questioned were aware of being paid less compared to other UK workers and that they were given the worst and heaviest jobs; almost all of those interviewed were suffering physical ailments through hard labour and weather conditions.

The report concluded that migrants are more likely to be working in sectors or occupations where there are existing health and safety concerns and that it is their status as new workers that may place them at added risk, due to their:

• relatively short periods of work in the UK;
• limited knowledge of the UK’s health and safety system;
• different experiences of health and safety regimes in countries of origin;
• motivations in coming to the UK, particularly where these are premised on earning as much as possible, in the shortest possible time;
• ability to communicate effectively with other workers and with supervisors, particularly in relation to their understanding of risk;
• access to limited health and safety training and their difficulties in understanding what is being offered, where proficiency in English is limited;
• failure of employers to check on their skills for work and on their language skills;
• Employment relationships and unclear responsibilities for health and safety, in particular where workers are supplied by recruitment agencies or labour providers or are self-employed; and
• lack of knowledge of health and safety rights and how to raise them, including knowledge of the channels through which they can be represented.

To tackle the issues raised by the findings, the research has recommended better-targeted HSE/Local Authority inspection, enforcement and supporting activity as well as greater provision of targeted health and safety advice and support for migrant workers and those who employ them. The research, Health and Safety and migrant workers in England and Wales, which was carried out by London Metropolitan University on behalf of the HSE can be found at: www.hse.gov.uk/research/rrhtm/rr502.htm.