CIOB backs new welfare code for Qatar’s migrant workers

The CIOB in Qatar is backing a new welfare code on migrant labour that has already been written into all subcontracts for a multi-billion government infrastructure project, and could soon be adopted into legislation. 

The Institute’s Middle East president is also urging members and expat construction professionals in the region to challenge unacceptable welfare standards and adopt welfare as a key responsibility on projects.

In a further move to enshrine fair treatment of migrant workers in all construction contracts, Constructing Excellence is in talks with the Qatar government, UK Trade & Investment, local construction firms and the CIOB about setting up a regional branch in Qatar. 

The Guardian has published a series of reports highlighting appalling and dangerous working conditions, along with alleged human rights abuses, among the 1.5m strong migrant workforce helping to modernise the Gulf state and prepare it to host the Fifa World Cup 2022. 

Abuses such as forcing workers to work double shifts or between 12pm and 4pm – the hottest part of the day, in some cases without adequate drinking water – are in contravention of the poorly-enforced Qatar Labour Law.

But the CIOB is backing the take-up of Mandatory Standards of Migrant Worker’s Welfare for Contractors and Subcontractors, a 51-page document published in July by the Qatar Foundation, a not-for-profit foundation working to modernise Qatar society. The foundation has strong links to Qatar’s ruling royal family.

Stephen Lines, the Doha-based CIOB President for Middle East, said that the new code could make more of an impact on the ground than the existing legislation as it would be implemented along the contractual chain and reach the subcontractors likely to be the worst offenders. If subcontractors are found to be in breach of the code, they could be thrown off the project.

Lines said: “The CIOB in Qatar has been talking to the Qatar Foundation, for over a year, on what we could do to raise standards. The Qatar Foundation has developed a specification document on labour welfare and accommodation that has already been put in place contractually on a major infrastructure project. 

“That means the document has to be included in all the subcontracts, and the client team will then inspect the subcontractors’ labour camps. If they’re not up to scratch, they’re given a period of time to put it in order. If they fail, they’re taken off the project, and taken off the books and barred from tendering from future work.”

“The document sets down very strict guidelines, about issues such as the ratio of labourers to supervisors, the specification for the labour camps and the number of calories for each worker each day. What we’re also hearing is that this new specification will find its way into legislation early next year.”

Lines acknowledged that some expat professionals in Qatar might previously have been focused on the “core deliverables” of a project rather than workers’ rights and welfare, but argued that the CIOB has a role in making sure that the fair treatment of the labour force becomes a professional priority.

The CIOB is backing a drive for better welfare standards for migrant workers

“It’s a question of enforcement and how we enforce that on our projects,” said Lines. “There are a lot of unscrupulous people out there whose only driver is cost and time, who force people not only to work from 12-4 but to do double shifts. 

“That’s where we at the CIOB need to educate the members and other construction managers that they have a responsibility to manage this. It’s about educating and us as chartered professionals, stepping in and educating people that they have a responsibility for everyone on site, from the architect to the guy making the tea, and ensuring their welfare is just as much part of the job as delivering the job.” 

The proposed new Qatar branch of Constructing Excellence could be live within six months and will aim to work towards improved welfare standards and site health and safety conditions as well as promoting better procurement practices, said Don Ward, chief executive. 

Ward said: “Rather than dictate from London the agenda over there, we are going to meet with clients, local industry and expats working in Qatar before December to identify the right issues to tackle, it is quite likely that part of that will involve the issues surrounding migrant labour … There is certainly interest from the Qatar government in improving standards and getting their construction industry up to international best class.

“We have been working with the UKTI and some of the larger firms operating in Qatar to see how we can help out there to ensure people understand the whole agenda around respect for other people.

“Qatar has a massive regional development programme leading up to the year 2030, so construction for them is about much more than simply building up to the World Cup.

“There is a great deal of interest in CE-type ideas in that part of the world. The Guardian did a great job in unearthing the abuses in Qatar, which will help speed up progress on the issue.”