Tutt, D; Pink, S; Dainty, A R J and Gibb, A (2013) 'In the air' and below the horizon: Migrant workers in UK construction and the practice-based nature of learning and communicating OHS. Construction Management and Economics, 31(6), pp. 515-527. ISSN 1466433X
Abstract
Local, tacit and normally unspoken OHS (occupational health and safety) knowledge and practices can too easily be excluded from or remain below the industry horizon of notice, meaning that they remain unaccounted for in formal OHS policy and practice. In this article we stress the need to more systematically and routinely tap into these otherwise 'hidden' communication channels, which are central to how everyday safe working practices are achieved. To demonstrate this approach this paper will draw on our ethnographic research with a gang of migrant curtain wall installers on a large office development project in the north of England. In doing so we reflect on the practice-based nature of learning and sharing OHS knowledge through examples of how workers' own patterns of successful communication help avoid health and safety problems. These understandings, we argue, can be advanced as a basis for the development of improved OHS measures, and of organizational knowing and learning.
| Item Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | communication; ethnography; migrant workers; occupational health and safety; tacit skill |
| Index terms: | health and safety, meaning, occupational health and safety, migrant worker, England, working practice, ethnography, installer, curtain wall |
| Subjects: | practitioner, health safety and environment, Geography, qualitative and interpretive research, building systems, management, occupational health and safety management, sociology |
| Topics: | International Construction, Design Practice, Organizational Design, Geographical Context, Research Practice, Health and Safety, Roles and Professions |
| Descriptive scope: | 3 PCT |
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