Lawani, K; Hare, B; Cameron, I and Soto, L M I (2020) Exploring the impact of alcohol abuse on construction sites in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. In: Scott, L and Neilson, C J (eds.) Proceedings of 36th Annual ARCOM Conference, 7-8 September 2020, Online Event, UK.
Abstract
The construction industry in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic is susceptible to human actions resulting in man-made safety hazards due to the impact of unregulated alcohol consumption and abuse by workers. Initial investigations identify that stress and pressures of work activities coupled with poor working conditions underpin why construction workers occupy the top tier in the scale of alcohol abuse. This study fills a gap in literature related to the excessive consumption of alcohol by construction workers and the need to have policies capable of regulating alcohol consumption in Santo Domingo construction sector. A qualitative approach using purposeful sampling and semi-structured interviews was adopted to evaluate the perception of participants working in the construction industry regarding alcohol consumption and abuse. The theme being investigated reached saturation after 12 interviews involving workers in multiple construction job roles. The findings suggest that alcohol is used as a coping mechanism by workers to deal with situations related to financial, emotional and personal difficulties. It also indicated that heavy drinking is part of the cultural norms, habits and ways of life. Although instances of alcohol abuse correlates to multiple incidences in the industry; there are no formal regulations in place to encourage, regulate and enforce such acts within the industry, so associated offenders are casually dismissed only for them to get another role in another project or organisation. To achieve meaningful change in the construction sector in Santo Domingo, the enactment of formal policies, collaboration of all stakeholders, the provision of education to increase awareness and the consequences of alcohol abuse should be prioritised. The limitation of this study was the lack of access to a more diverse participant base due to the sensitive nature of the topic. This study intends to be a precursor for further in-depth investigations of this theme.
| Item Type: | Conference Paper (Paper) |
|---|---|
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | alcohol consumption; health & wellbeing; safety; Santo Domingo; safe working |
| Index terms: | interview, construction site, qualitative approach, investigation, sampling, regulation, Dominican Republic, collaboration, coping, well-being, norms, alcohol, habit, construction sector, construction worker, working conditions, consumption, construction industry |
| Subjects: | sociology, behavioral psychology, political science, industry analysis, research methods, management, employment law, Geography, work location, psychology, mental health and wellbeing, data collection methods, health behaviours and lifestyles, practitioner, consumer economics |
| Topics: | Geographical Context, Research Practice, Health and Safety, Governance, Roles and Professions, Stakeholder Management, Legal Issues, Site Management, Organizational Design |
| Descriptive scope: | 5 PCTEA |
N.B. Descriptive scope is a count of how many of the five facets of empirical research are indicated by the words used in title, abstract and keywords. It is not intended as a judgement on the research; merely a count of the kind of word we would expect to indicate Phenomenon, Concepts, Theoretical framing, Empirical techniques, Analytical techniques. If all five are present, then a code of “5 PCTEA” will indicate this. If you feel the coding for this record is questionable, we welcome discussion around the terms we matched or the way we categorized them. The facet you would expect may not be coded, or a facet may be coded inappropriately. This can also bear on a larger question, of which facets should be treated as defining in construction management research. Please get in touch, and we will look at it. More details here