In autumn 2000, a number of major construction projects in Northern Portugal have highlighted health and safety problems in this sector, which trade unions attribute partly to precarious and illegal employment and the use of large numbers of immigrant workers. Negotiations between the social partners took place in October over ensuring compliance with legal standards and improving safety standards.
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In autumn 2000, a number of major construction projects in Northern Portugal have highlighted health and safety problems in this sector, which trade unions attribute partly to precarious and illegal employment and the use of large numbers of immigrant workers. Negotiations between the social partners took place in October over ensuring compliance with legal standards and improving safety standards.
According to the Institute for the Development and Inspection of Working Conditions (Instituto para o Desenvolvimento e Inspecção das Condições de Trabalho, IDICT) - attached to the Ministry of Labour and Solidarity- the (civil) construction sector employs only 10% of the working population and yet is responsible for 33% of fatal work-related accidents. The General Inspectorate of Labour (Inspecção Geral do Trabalho, IGT) also classifies construction as the sector that suffers most from work-related fatalities. The Ministry's statistics for 1998 set out in the table at the end of this record reveals the scale of the problem.
At the beginning of 2000, the IGT took the initiative of issuing a circular entitled Improving working conditions in businesses: the new punitive regime – a challenge and an opportunity (Melhoria das condições de trabalho nas empresas, novo regime sancionário- um desafio e uma oportunidade). This advises companies of the recent entry into effect of the new legal regime governing sanctions for labour-related offences, which, among other aims, is intended to reduce the number of health and safety violations at work (PT9909162N).
Concerns over health and safety in construction are mounting at a time when works are under way to prepare the Oporto 2001 "European city of culture" event, the Oporto underground railway and the 2004 European nations football championship in Aveiro. Many lives are often lost in this kind of construction project. The Oporto Trade Union Centre (União dos Sindicatos do Porto, USP), affiliated to the General Confederation of Portuguese Workers (Confederação Geral dos Trabalhadores Portugueses, CGTP), has announced that it will seek meetings with the institutions that are responsible for Oporto 2001 and the underground project, with a view to ensuring workers' rights and safety.
Unions believe that these current construction projects will prove very attractive to the many clandestine workers who live in Portugal and meet the sector's labour requirements in a precarious and illegal manner. Figures issued by the Northern Civil Construction Unions (Sindicatos da Construção Civil do Norte, SCCN) indicate the presence of more than 5,000 workers from Eastern Europe in Portugal's Northern region. The entry into effect of a new immigration law (PT0006199F) entitles any foreign national who enters Portugal without a resident's visa but with a proposed employment contract to request authorisation to stay in the country for a certain period of time. According to the IGT, this will help promote compliance with labour regulations, as well as the associated social protection .
In this context, construction workers' unions in the Northern region are negotiating with employers' associations and public bodies in order to improve hygiene, health and safety conditions in the sector. The construction of the new Oporto concert hall, the Casa da Música, is held up as an exemplary case of how such a project should be conducted, and SCCN says that this has been the result of the trade unions' firm determination to fight short-term and clandestine labour and to promote safe working conditions.
| Total | 1-9 employees | 10-49 employees | 50-99 employees | 100-249 employees | 250 employees | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Total | 63.6 | 19.0 | 60.4 | 81.2 | 76.2 | 98.0 |
| Agriculture | 56.3 | 30.3 | 69.7 | 113.8 | 98.8 | 169.1 |
| Fishing | 130.8 | 7.5 | 98.2 | 123.6 | 181.4 | - |
| Mining and quarrying | 154.6 | 16.9 | 132.8 | 268.8 | 378.5 | - |
| Manufacturing | 88.8 | 24.2 | 86.5 | 90.7 | 92.4 | 115.3 |
| Manufacture of food, beverages and tobacco | 92.0 | 17.3 | 49.5 | 121.0 | 94.6 | 189.8 |
| Manufacture of textiles | 35.9 | 6.0 | 24.1 | 26.1 | 42.2 | 54.5 |
| Manufacture of leather and leather products | 40.3 | 37.6 | 47.4 | 28.4 | 47.6 | 39.3 |
| Manufacture of wood and wood/cork products | 136.0 | 34.7 | 149.8 | 167.1 | 123.5 | 280.6 |
| Manufacture of paper/paper products, printing and publishing | 53.9 | 9.0 | 22.9 | 86.7 | 50.0 | 109.6 |
| Production of petroleum and coal | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Manufacture of chemical products | 80.8 | 50.9 | 78.8 | 67.8 | 85.0 | 98.8 |
| Manufacture of rubber and plastic products | 109.3 | 2.0 | 82.6 | 149.2 | 127.5 | 128.1 |
| Manufacture of other non-metallic mineral products | 148.2 | 45.4 | 180.0 | 82.3 | 109.7 | 236.6 |
| Basic metal industries | 162.5 | 30.6 | 163.5 | 225.2 | 205.3 | 223.6 |
| Manufacture of machinery | 150.8 | 1.3 | 185.6 | 186.5 | 159.8 | 134.5 |
| Manufacture of electrical machinery | 47.9 | 0.4 | 87.6 | 104.5 | 53.2 | 40.9 |
| Manufacture of transport equipment | 191.6 | 296.9 | 118.7 | 191.8 | 201.7 | 198.7 |
| Other manufacturing industries | 98.5 | 29.6 | 120.4 | 124.6 | 132.6 | 128.6 |
| Electricity, gas and water | 28.3 | - | 4.0 | 9.2 | 1.7 | 126.7 |
| Construction | 110.4 | 29.7 | 78.3 | 114.1 | 182.1 | 280.4 |
| Wholesale and retail trade | 42.0 | 18.3 | 37.5 | 72.6 | 40.5 | 263.5 |
| Restaurants and hotels | 32.3 | 19.5 | 23.5 | 32.2 | 38.4 | 225.2 |
| Transport, storage and communication | 51.2 | 11.4 | 28.1 | 37.2 | 31.1 | 70.4 |
| Transport and storage | 55.4 | 12.8 | 34.4 | 55.3 | 48.4 | 67.6 |
| Communication | 40.0 | 1.4 | 6.0 | 0.5 | 13.4 | 80.8 |
| Finance | 7.4 | 0.1 | 0.5 | 9.4 | 0.7 | 14.1 |
| Business services | 30.8 | - | 22.9 | 32.1 | 35.1 | 46.9 |
Source: Boletim Estatistico Março/Abril 2000, Departamento de Estatística do Trabalho, Emprego e Formação Profissional do Ministério do Trabalho e Solidariedade ( DETEFP ).
Eurofound recommends citing this publication in the following way.
Eurofound (2000), Health and safety in construction under the spotlight, article.
