Framework for Assessment of Construction Workers’ Housing Conditions and Associated Health Hazards

Construction workers in India, usually migrants, are commonly found to be living in employer provided temporary accommodation facilities, the conditions of which commonly depend upon various contextual factors such as geographical location, type, scale, ownership of project, etc. As per secondary studies, they are vulnerable to various health hazards due to exposure to poor housing conditions. These claims however are not adequately supported with evidence-based study, failing to provide a clear understanding about the exact housing conditions prevailing under different contextual backgrounds or the health hazards associated with them. There is also a dearth of information related to the architecture / built environment of workers’ housing facilities which could be used to understand the causes behind the existing housing conditions. In order to take appropriate measures for improving the worker’s housing conditions, the above discussed information is highly essential and can be acquired only through a physical assessment of the workers’ existing housing facilities. Considering the unique logistical background of construction worker’s housing, the existing assessment frameworks/tools were found to be unsuitable for this task, leading to the need of developing a special assessment framework, which was then developed in the following 4 stages viz: (1) Understanding the various contextual factors influencing the workers’ housing facilities; (2) Identifying housing conditions having impact on the health of users and the attributes of built environment leading to same; (3) Enlisting attributes of built environment to be used as parameters for physical assessment and (4) Through correlation of the assessment parameters and housing conditions, develop the final assessment framework and tool. Following paper presents this process of framework development, concluding with a discussion of its use, benefits, and further scope.