ArticlePDF Available

Problems Faced By Contractors in Managing Foreign Workers On Construction Sites

Authors:

Abstract and Figures

Construction industry is one of the sectors that attracted a large number of foreign workers working at construction sites. However, the problems related to the employment of foreign workers are numerous. The purpose of this study are to identify the employment procedures of foreign workers, to study the worker's welfare facilities, to identify the problems faced by the contractors in managing the foreign workers on site and also to identify the impact of the employment of foreign workers at site. A total of 100 sets of questionnaires have been distributed to the contractors at construction sites around Johor Bahru, Malaysia. Questionnaires forms contain selection of short and predetermined as well as likert scale answers. The data was analyzed using average index method and frequency analysis. From the findings, the results show that the worker's facilities provided by the contractors are on the average. However, the contractors have no problems in managing the foreign workers on site in terms of productivity, communication and also health. The applications of the safety procedures need to be improved to achieve zero accidents at site. From the study, it was also found that several issues and problems do arise from the employment of the foreign workers. Therefore, the services of the foreign workers in the construction industry need to be reviewed.
Content may be subject to copyright.
Problems Faced By Contractors in Managing Foreign Workers On
Construction Sites
Abdul Rahim Abdul Hamid1+, Bachan Singh1, Wan Zulkifli Wan Yusof1, Aminah Md Yusof1 and
Norzamzila Mustafa1
1Faculty of Civil Engineering, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, 81310 UTM Johor Bahru,Johor Darul Ta’zim,
Malaysia
Abstract. Construction industry is one of the sectors that attracted a large number of foreign workers
working at construction sites. However, the problems related to the employment of foreign workers are
numerous. The purpose of this study are to identify the employment procedures of foreign workers, to study
the worker’s welfare facilities, to identify the problems faced by the contractors in managing the foreign
workers on site and also to identify the impact of the employment of foreign workers at site. A total of 100
sets of questionnaires have been distributed to the contractors at construction sites around Johor Bahru,
Malaysia. Questionnaires forms contain selection of short and predetermined as well as likert scale answers.
The data was analyzed using average index method and frequency analysis. From the findings, the results
show that the worker’s facilities provided by the contractors are on the average. However, the contractors
have no problems in managing the foreign workers on site in terms of productivity, communication and also
health. The applications of the safety procedures need to be improved to achieve zero accidents at site. From
the study, it was also found that several issues and problems do arise from the employment of the foreign
workers. Therefore, the services of the foreign workers in the construction industry need to be reviewed.
Keywords: Construction, foreign workers, welfare, problems, impact
1. Introduction
For over three decades, Malaysia has relied heavily on the use of foreign labour either legally or
otherwise. In Malaysia, foreign workers were employed in the manufacturing, construction, plantation,
agricultural, services and domestic sector. Services sector consist of eleven sub sector such as restaurant,
cleaning services, cargo handling. Malaysia will still have to depend on foreign workers [1]. In fact,
presently, there are over two million foreign workers being employed in the country. Some of the foreign
workers entered the country either legally or illegally [2]. The employment of foreign workers needs to
undergo various procedures. These procedures can be at times lengthy. Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib
Abdul Razak said, the freeze on the intake of foreign workers will be done gradually so as not to affect any
economic sectors in the country [3].
The objectives of this study are to investigate the procedures in employing of foreign workers in the
construction industry in Malaysia, to investigate the welfare of foreign workers provided by contractor on
site, to investigate problems faced by the contractors in managing foreign labour on site and to evaluate the
effect of employment of foreign workers in the construction industry. The study was carried on construction
sites in the area of Johor Bahru, Johor, Malaysia.
2. Literature Review
In general, the right and obligations of foreign workers depends more on their legal status and the type of
work they are engaged in. Based on the types of jobs, they are divided into two categories, i.e. the expatriates
and the non-expatriates or foreign labour and each of these is managed by different sections in the
+ Corresponding author. Tel.: +607-5531689/ 6013 753 1947; fax: +607-5566157.
E-mail address: rahimfka@gmail.com.
2011 2n
d
International Conference on Construction and Project Management
IPEDR vol.15 (2011) © (2011) IACSIT Press, Singapore
131
immigration department and subjected to separate terms and conditions [4]. The term “foreign worker” will
be used to refer to foreign workers in general and “foreign labour” for the unskilled and semi-skilled workers.
The construction sector in the future will continue to require a steady supply of labour to support its growth.
An enduring labour shortage along with the slow process of mechanization and reluctance local to work in
construction due to working conditions and low pay promises to aggravate this problem [5].
Generally, in the last decade Malaysia has achieved a successful economic growth and full employment.
Although the Malaysian economic situation showed a good performance during the normal period, the
Malaysian economy actually faced a tight situation in the labour market. The demand for labour is high.
In year 2009, of a total labour force of around 12 million people, 12.0% is employed in agriculture,
0.4 % in mining, 27.6% in manufacturing, 6.6 % in construction and 53.5% in services industry. However, in
2010 total labour employed in agriculture is 11.8%, 0.4% in mining, 27.8% in manufacturing, 6.5% in
construction and 53.6% in services (Economic Planning Unit and Department of Statistics). As of June
2011total employment is 12.12 million people, 12.6% is employed in agriculture, 0.7% in mining, 16.4% in
manufacturing, 10 % in construction and 60.3% in services industry [6].
There are three main factors that influence the labour force. They are environmental factor,
organisational factor and work energy. Environmental factors are divided into economy, social, politics and
law, technology and competition. While in organisational factor, the organisation decision will effect on
manpower planning. It can be divided into strategic planning, budgeted and etc. Beside that, labour factor
can be divided to the quality on labour force, organisation decision, financial condition and etc [7].
Labour Department is responsible in enforcing the eight labour laws which provides provisions to protect
and develop workers. These laws are being governed and enforced through the Employment Act 1955, Trade
Unions Act 1959, Minimum Standards of Housing and Amenities Act 1990, Workmen’s Compensation Act
1952, Wages Councils Act 1947, Employment Information Act 1953 and etc. Beside that, demand on
employee requires higher education and professional training in keeping to strategic change in value activity
[8].
3. Methodology
The study was carried out through literature review. The sources of the literature were obtained from
books, previous theses, journal, articles, websites and work of previous researchers.
The study was carried out by questionnaires. Initially the leading questions for the questionnaires were
developed based on objective of the study. The questionnaire was structured into six divisions. In section C
until section F, the data analysis that was use is Likert Scale. Respondents were asked to answer the question
using the five rating Likert scale (from 1= “strongly disagree” to 5= “strongly agree”).
1. Section A: Personal or demographic detail of respondents
2. Section B: To gather detail information about foreign workers
3. Section C: To gather information related to foreign workers’ welfare on construction site. Section D:
To collect information about problems face by foreign workers on construction site. This section
was divided to four part: (i) Productivity and Quality foreign worker (ii) Communication on site (iii)
Foreign workers health on site (iv) Foreign workers safety on site
4. Section E: To collect information about the effect on recruiting foreign labour on site.
5. Section F: To gather information related the effect of reducing the numbers of foreign labour on site.
Interviews were carried out to obtain opinions from parties involved on construction site, comments and
explanation regarding the problem faced by the contractors in managing the foreign workers on site.
Data analysis was done using computer software Statistical Package for Social Science and Microsoft
Office Excel. The data then was analyzed using the frequency analysis, average Index Analysis and
Correlation Analysis. Whereas, the Average Index was calculated by means of the following formula [9]:
Average Index (A.I.) = (aX), where X = n / N, a = Value weight that was prescribed for variable (1 to 5),
N = Total respondents and n = Respondent frequency.
132
The classifications for the rating scale were grouped as follows is 1.00Average Index<1.50
(not important or strongly disagree), 1.50Average Index<2.50 (less important or disagree), 2.50Average
Index<3.50 (neutral), 3.50Average Index<4.50 (important or agree) and 4.50Average Index5.0 (very
important or strongly agree) [10].
4. Result and Discussion
Out of the 100 questionnaires that were distributed to the respondents, only 34 questionnaires were duly
answered and returned. Before analysis was carried out, data was divided into two parts analysed which is
initial analysis and detailed analysis. Initial analysis will cover personal or demographic details of
respondents. While, detailed analysis was used to achieve the objectives of this study.
4.1. Initial Analysis:
Based on answer that were provided by the respondents, the total foreign workers on site were 2146
people and the average workers on each site comprises of 63 foreign workers either from Indonesia,
Bangladesh, Nepal, Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam.
4.2. Detailed Analysis:
1. The administration of foreign nationals working in Malaysia was done separately and differently in
West Malaysia. There were various methods used by the contractors to obtain foreign workers to
work in construction sites. From the survey, matters related to foreign workers came under the
judicial of the Immigration Department from the Ministry of Home Affairs, (KHEDN),
Construction Industry Development Board Malaysia (CIDB), Private Agencies and also by others
contractors. These departments govern the right and obligation of these workers.
2. As per workers’ welfare, the accommodation, water supply and others as provided by the contractor
is “Average Satisfactory”.
3. Among the problems faced by the contractors in managing the foreign workers on site were as
follows:-
i. Productivity and Quality Foreign Workers
Figure 1 shows that the factors that influence the productivity and quality of foreign workers are the
induction courses. Foreign workers on site had benefited a lot from such programs. This followed 58.8
percent respondents agree that work quality is dependent on the equipment and technology and not the skill
of foreign worker. However, 44.1 percent respondents less agreed that most foreign labour has insufficient
knowledge to carry out the work correctly.
Fig. 1: Productivity and Quality Foreign Workers
ii. Foreign worker’s health
PRODUCTIVITY AND QUALITY FOREIGN WORKERS
Quality
Productivity
Knowled
g
e
Tools
Communication
Problems
Understood
Instruction
Induction
Course
0.00
0.50
1.00
1.50
2.00
2.50
3.00
3.50
4.00
1 2 3 4 5 6 7
Statement
Average
Index
133
The main causes of diseases among foreign workers were due to poor personal hygiene. Some agreed
that cleanliness of living quarters contributed to their health. Some also less disagreed about the fact that they
brought in diseases from their countries or even contracted disease from their fellow workers.
iii. Speaking fluency among foreign labour
Table 1, shows that the foreign workers were able to speak Bahasa Malaysia but the proficiency level
could be improved in order to boost work productivity.
Tab 1: Average Index value from speaking fluency among foreign labour
Value 1 2 3 4 5 Total
A.I RANK
Respondent
Frequency ƒ % ƒ % ƒ % ƒ % ƒ % ƒ %
A. Bahasa Malaysia 0 0.0 0 0.0 5 14.7 25 73.5 4 11.8 34 100.0 3.97 1
C. Do not know/ both
language 7 20.6 20 58.8 3 8.8 4 11.8 0 0.0 34 100.0 2.12 2
B. English language 7 20.6 27 79.4 0 0.0 0 0.0 0 0.0 34 100.0 1.79 3
Total Average Index (A.I) 2.63
1. Frequency of Health Screening
The result in Figure 2 shows that the workers did undergo health screening during their employment.
Fig 2: Frequency of Health Screening
2. Impact of recruitment foreign labour on construction site
Table 2 presented the impacts due to the employment of foreign workers which has resulted the outflow
of currency from this country to the country of the workers’ origin and followed by other negatives impacts.
Tab 2: Effect of recruitment foreign labour on construction site
Value 1 2 3 4 5 Total
Average
Index Rank
Frequency Respondent ƒ % ƒ % ƒ % ƒ % ƒ % ƒ %
F. Malaysia currency out flow to
other countries which cripple
economy and development
process in Malaysia.
0 0.0 1 2.9 9 26.5 22 64.7 2 5.9 34 100 3. 74 1
E. Recruitment of foreign workers
causes local skill drain to other
countries.
0 0.0 4 11.8 6 17.6 24 70.6 0 0.0 34 100 3.59 2
C. Increase local population
unemployment rates. 0 0.0 4 11.8 21 61.9 5 14.7 4 11.8 34 100 3.26 3
B. Create social problems such as
criminal cases by foreign workers. 0 0.0 7 20.6 21 61.9 6 17.6 0 0.0 34 100 2.97 4
D. Bring dangerous diseases and
undue environment to public. 3 8.8 12 35.3 16 47.1 3 8.8 0 0.0 34 100 2.56 5
A. Less quality works due to semi
skilled and unskilled foreign
workers.
10 29.4 15 44.1 8 23.5 1 2.9 0 0.0 34 100 2 6
OVERALL AVERAGE INDEX 3.02
5. Conclusion
134
The conclusions from this study are as follows:
i. There are various methods and procedures like the policy and regulations, application method,
payment and related foreign workers recruitment.
ii. Eventhough the contractors knew and understand the Employment Acts but they also need to be
applied in managing workers on site regarding welfare issue, salary and etc.
iii. From the study, the contractors are “not satisfied” with the productivity level of foreign workers.
iv. Furthermore, the effect of recruiting and employing foreign labours will result in the outflow of the
local currency, the skills and knowledge the foreign workers obtain while working in the
construction industry will be brought home to their country, the unemployment of the locals will
increase and the socials ills caused by the foreign workers.
6. Acknowledgements
We would like to thank our sponsor, Ministry of Higher Education (MOHE) and Universiti Teknologi
Malaysia (UTM) for the financial support of Research University Grant (Vote No. Q.J130000.7122.03J11)
which enable us to carry out this research project. Thank you also to UTM Research Management Centre
(RMC) and those who had contributed towards the completion of this research.
7. References
[1] Shiadri Binti Saleh @ Aman, Causes Of Poor Participation Of Local Workers In Malaysia Construction Industry
And Strategies For Improvement. Final Year Project Report. University Technology Malaysia, Malaysia, 2008.
[2] Department of Statistics. Principal Statistics of Labour Force, Malaysia, 2011.
[3] Husna Yusop, Najib: Gradual freeze on intake of foreign workers. The Sun 23 January 2009. Available on
http://www.malaysianbar.org.my/legal/general_news/najib_gradual_freeze_on_intake_of_foreign_workers.html
[4] Jamaluddin, S.Z. Pengenalan Kepada Undang-Undang Perhubungan Perusahaan di Malaysia. Penerbit Universiti
Malaya, Universiti Malaya, Kuala Lumpur. 2000.
[5] Osman,Z. Labour Economy: Theory Supply and Demand. Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka, Ministry of Education
Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur, 1989.
[6] Department of Statistics Malaysia (2011), Labour Force Survey Report, First Quarter 2011, series no 26, vol 2
June 2011.
[7] Juliani Jamil and Zakaria Mohd Yusof. Human Resources in Malaysian Construction Industry, 2nd International
Conference on Businessand Economic Research (2nd ICBER 2011), Malaysia
[8] Yusmady bin Md Junus. Kajian Hak Pekerja di Tapak Bina Mengikut Peruntukan Undang-Undang. Master
Project Report. Universiti Teknologi Malaysia; 2002.
[9] Abdul-mohsen Al-Hammad and Sadi Assaf (1996). Assessment of Work Performance of Maintenance Contractors
in Saudi Arabia. Journal of Management in Engineering, 12, 44 (1996); doi:10.1061/(ASCE)0742-
597X(1996)12:2(44) .
[10] M.Z. Abd. Majid and R. McCaffer. (1997) Assessment of Work Performance of Maintenance Contractors in
Saudi Arabia. Journal of Management in Engineering, 13, 91 (1997); doi:10.1061/(ASCE)0742-
597X(1997)13:5(91).
135
... Although the industry has significant contribution to Malaysia development, the site safety aspects still need huge improvement [3], [4]. The sector involves many hazardous activities and has resulted in many accidents that include fatal injuries, disabilities and others. ...
... Based on Occupational Safety and Health (OSH) Act 1994, contractor is the main party liable for any accidents happen at site. Besides the main contractor, [3] and [7] also highlighted the important role of foreign workers, as they are the person who physically involve in the execution of construction work at sites. As construction project developments in Malaysia are also highly depending on foreign construction workers, there is a need to examine their current site safety approaches at construction site, challenges face by them to maintain good safety practices and strategies that can be implemented to improve safety practices of the foreign workers at the construction site. ...
Article
Full-text available
Construction sector is always associated with 3Ds industry (dangerous, dirty and difficult). Despite the significant contribution of the sector on Malaysia economic development, the statistics have shown that the sector has enormous impact on the increase number of fatality and accident rates at construction site. The employment of foreign workers with low construction skill into Malaysia has further deteriorated the site safety performance. To find improvement for this phenomenon, this research begin with investigating the current site safety approaches implemented by the foreign workers, the challenges faced by them and the strategies taken by the company to improve safety practices at construction site. In order to obtain a conclusive finding, in-depth interviews with foreign workers working with construction companies Grade 7 and their managers were carried out. Overall the findings reported that, first, although there are safety measures taken during construction operation (e.g. wearing Personal Protective Equipment (PPE), following safety signs and housekeeping), the measures were only be implemented occasionally. Second, language barrier, lack of safety awareness, lack of safety training and do-not-care attitude of foreign workers are found to be the major challenge led to poor site safety practices. Third, proficient in local language, develop safety awareness and supportive site condition and monitoring effort by the Site Managers are reported as important aspect to improve site safety performance. These findings enhance the understanding about site safety practices of the foreign worker who work in Malaysia. It also provides valuable improvement measures that can be carried out by top management and other construction bodies to improve site safety condition in Malaysia.
... Nevertheless, the rise of the construction industry has caused dependency on foreign workers which created various problems. Among the problems is dissatisfaction of the contractors with the productivity level of foreign workers, the outflow of local currency, transfer of skill and knowledge of foreign workers to their country, unemployment of local people and social ills [2]. Besides, Rahman et al [4] claimed that, apart from social problems created by foreign workers, most of the foreign workers arrived in Malaysia were unskilled which leads to less productivity and assurance of quality in the construction industry. ...
... According to El-Gohary and Aziz [13], the most important factor affecting labour productivity in the construction industry is the incentive program for the labour itself. Plus, the slow process of mechanization and reluctance local to participate in construction industry aggravated the labour shortage problem [2]. Therefore, this study aims to identify the elements related to Malaysians as the component of the labour force for the construction industry in Malaysia. ...
Article
Full-text available
The construction sector plays a significant role in the economy in order to achieve the inspiration to be a developed nation in 2020. In the effort to increase the efficiency of the sector, Construction Industry Development Board (CIDB) had pledged to continue investing in human capital development in the construction industry as one of its initiatives under Productivity Thrust in Construction Industry Transformation Programme (CITP). However, currently, the construction industry of Malaysia is depressed by the low-wage and low productivity trap due to substantial reliance on low-skilled foreign workers. The number of local workers are not only low but are decreasing drastically due to out-migration towards better job opportunities in other sectors. Therefore, this research aims to establish a conceptual framework for Malaysians as the component of the labour force in the construction industry in Malaysia through identifying the landscape of participation of local labour, investigating factors hindering participation of local labour and propose initiatives to increase the numbers of participation of local labour. This paper presents a review of literature from journals, conference proceedings, and books. Based on the review, a framework consisting of four (4) components (i.e., Government Agenda, Local Labour in Malaysian Construction Industry, strategies to improve participation, and expected key outcomes of CITP for Productivity) is proposed. These findings will assist the extended investigation in the identification of ways to improve the participation of local labour for the Construction Industry in Malaysia.
... A general survey conducted in the construction industry showed that, adequate measures were not being taking for health [23], safety [24] and welfare on the site [25] especially in Malaysia; [26][27]. In fact, the basic requirements for welfare facilities had been generally neglected by contractors for some time. ...
Chapter
Full-text available
According to a general survey conducted in the construction industry showed that, adequate measures were not being taken by contractors, regarding workers' welfare on construction sites for some time, especially in Malaysia. It is therefore evident that various challenges have been faced in the management of welfare within the industry. The objectives of the study are to identify the provision of welfare facilities in contract documents and to determine the awareness on welfare facilities' provision according to Malaysian law and code of practice on construction sites. The study administered (35) set of structured survey questionnaire from random construction sites managed by grades G2-G6 contractors in Johor Bahru, Malaysia. The collected data was then analysed using frequency distribution analysis method. The results are presented in the tables and figures for easy interpretation. The findings showed that, the welfare facilities were adequately mentioned in the contract documents especially in the preliminary section. Furthermore, majority of the respondents were aware of the site welfare facilities as required by the Malaysian law and code of practice. However, the current condition and adequacy of site welfare facilities i.e. site accommodation, electricity, sanitary, drinking water, first aid, medical, leisure, social and tools/personnel storage facilities remain to be an issue since there are not being quantified as in the bill of quantity. When there are being mentioned in the preliminaries section only, normally the amount quoted is very low and on lump sum basis which reflect only minimum provision of the welfare facilities. This is not in line with the spirit of complying with the best practices of the welfare facilities if we want to be at par with develop nations.
Article
Concrete, if properly design, can be one of the most durable material and widely used in construction due to its availability and good compressive strength. A good quality concrete can be produced not only through good design of concrete mix proportions but also good and proper curing process that ensure a complete hydration process of the cement. However, sometimes proper curing process was not provided during concreting on site due to various reasons. This study investigates the effects of 10 mm crushed Palm Oil Clinker (POC) as partial aggregates replacement to act as internal reservoirs in concrete to provide internal curing process of cement. This process or technique is also popularly known as self-curing process for concrete. The POC which has the density of 780 kg/m3 was used to replace 20% of the coarse aggregates. A water/cement ratio of 0.53 was used in the concrete mix design. Three different curing conditions were employed, namely, normal water curing, air curing and 7 days in water plus outside curing conditions. The workability of the POC and control concretes was determined through slump test. The concrete samples were tested for compression at the age of 3, 7 and 28 days while concrete prisms and cylindrical samples were tested at the age of 7 and 28 days. The experimental results show that the inclusion of POC was found to increase the workability of concrete by 27% but reduced the concrete compressive strength by about 6% compared with the control concrete. In addition, the flexural and tensile strengths of POC concrete were found to be less than the control concrete due to the properties of the POC which was lightweight and porous. The experimental results show that the porous structure of the POC aggregates can be utilised as water reservoir for the process of internal curing for the self-curing concrete.
Chapter
Malaysia is experiencing a huge influx of foreigners worldwide, especially of low-skilled workers. Malaysia has been suffering labour shortages in many key sectors of the country such as construction, plantation, industrial and service. Foreign labour is another country’s worker who comes to work in Malaysia for a period that is also known as economic labour. This study was conducted to study the performance of multinational foreign labours on a construction project in Klang Valley. This research focuses more in identifying the most significant factors and effects on the performances of multinational foreign labours at the construction project. Besides that, this research will determine the strategy to improve the project performances of multinational foreign labours at the construction project. This study utilised a survey instrument by using a questionnaire and observations conducted on 80 respondents at construction companies. Data was collected and analysed by using SPSS version 22 and Microsoft Excel. Descriptive statistics such as mean, percentage and standard deviation were used to analyse the data. The research findings show that there are positive and negative factors and effects of the achievement of a diversity of multinational foreign Labours in construction projects. Besides that, the strategies also were identified to improve the performance work involving the multinational foreign labours at construction projects in Klang Valley.KeywordsMultinational laboursForeign labours performanceProject performance
Chapter
Reuse of building components has the potential of maximizing the residual utility for the building materials in the End-of-Life (EoL) stage of a construction project. In this matter selective disassembly is an efficient method to retrieve reusable components from building assets. Unfortunately, the implementation of selective disassembly planning for buildings is still limited due to the challenge of generating accurate and correct analytical disassembly models for building archetypes. Therefore, the aim of this paper is to develop algorithms for the automatic determination of the necessary information for disassembly building models. The approach presented in this study uses BIM as the main platform and interface to implement the computational model. First, the necessary information for building disassembly models is investigated according to the Sequential Disassembly Planning for Buildings (SDPB) approach and the BIM parameters for disassembly models are suggested. Then, two algorithms are developed and tested in the Visual Programming Language (VPL) Dynamo to automatically populate the missing information in the BIM model. Finally, the results of the enriched BIM model are verified according to the analytical solution for disassembly models for buildings.KeywordsDisassembly modelBuilding information modelingDisassembly planning
Article
Full-text available
The Malaysian government is currently improving the quality of workers temporary accommodation by introducing MS2593:2015 (Code of Practice for Temporary Site Workers Amenities and Accommodation) in 2015. It is in line with the initiative in the Construction Industry Transformation Programme (2016-2020) to increase the quality and well-being of construction workers in Malaysia. Thus, to gauge the current practice of temporary accommodation on complying with the particular guideline, this paper has put forth the observation of such accommodation towards elements in Section 3 within MS2593:2015. A total of seventeen (17) temporary accommodation provided by Grade 6 and Grade 7 contractors in Johor were selected and assessed. The results disclosed that most of the temporary accommodation was not complying with the guideline, where only thirteen (13) out of fifty-eight (58) elements have recorded full compliance (100%), and the lowest compliance percentage (5.9%) are discovered in the Section 3.12 (Signage). In a nutshell, given the significant gap of compliance between current practices of temporary accommodation and MS2593:2015, a holistic initiative need to be in place for the guideline to be worthwhile.
Article
Full-text available
Construction industry in Malaysia covers almost 1.3 million workers. Thus, realizing the importance of human-centred trait, a long-term plan that is led by the Construction Industry Development Board Malaysia (CIDB) has been designed to improve accommodation and facilities of workers at construction site. In conjunction to that, the Institute for Industrial Research and Standards Malaysia (SIRIM) has developed Malaysia Standard (MS 2593:2015) as the guideline for improvement of accommodation and facilities for workers which is able to contribute to the achievement of the target in the Construction Industry Transformation Programme (CITP). However, a phenomenon that is centred on the level of itscorroboration compared with other similar guidelines has been voiced by some practitioners of construction, especially when the guideline are likely to be the basis of a new related act. Therefore, based on MS 2593:2015, this introductory research is conducted to qualitatively analyse the corroborative level of the guideline compared to its counterpart guidelines. By using a comprehensive document analysis method which anchored to frequency approach and assisted by NVivo v.8 software, the report found out that the Malaysia-based guideline is on par to the restwith some introduction of new variables (especially towards leisure and social aspects). Thus, further research on gauging industry’s willingness and existing compliance rates is deemed appropriate in order to inculcate positive impacts towards the objectives of MS 2593:2015, and subsequently contributes to the formation of the forthcoming corresponding act.
Article
Purpose – The aim of this study is to explore the impact of using foreign workers on construction productivity in project situations. Generally, foreign-funded projects use both native and foreign workers. Foreign workforce entering into the construction industry may affect the productivity positively or negatively, depending on the migrants’ attributes, institutional arrangements and native workers’ responses, thereby impacting the cost of the project. In Sri Lanka, large construction sites have become multicultural and depend on foreign workers brought in by foreign contractors for infrastructure projects. Design/methodology/approach – A survey-based approach was used to collect data. Structured interviews were conducted to explore the characteristics of the foreign workforce and their impact on productivity. Further, potential strategies were analyzed to establish industry motivators (IM) to enhance productivity. Findings – The study on the foreign workforce identified ten employee characteristics that may impact project’s productivity either positively or negatively. Further, 16 significant strategies were compiled to establish six IM to enhance productivity. Originality/value – These proposed motivators will be useful for construction practitioners in mitigating negative impacts and proactively managing the foreign workforce in a way to enhance construction productivity.
Data
Full-text available
In the new challenging era of globalization and information technology, managing a perceived as safe public transport business is crucial. What more when public transport is concern. As the public transport system became the life blood of the city, the issue of safety were seldom seen as a transport issues. On reality, majority of the transit passengers experience crime while walking and waiting on the road or at the boundary of the roadside. It is believed that if the issue is not tackle accordingly, the shift from public transport to private transport will take place if there exist an opportunity for them to do so. This will in long run create a massive traffic problem. When the demand to travel by private transport is higher than the public transport, this has indicate that the road space is now fully utilize or maybe to some situation is overly utilize until the problem of grid lock happen. On the other side, these phenomenon will also gives a negative impact towards transport business operator when the supply of public transport exceed the actual demand. The problem will to some extend create a loss to many transport business when they have to operate at loss due to the fact that transport cannot be stored. Transport Management. The rapidly increase in the number of automobile usage especially in urban areas has caused tremendous problems to the countries such as massive traffic congestion, air and noise pollution, and climbing rate of road accidents and casualties (Mohamad and
Article
In Saudi Arabia as well as in other countries, building owners often differ in their approach to evaluating the work performance of their maintenance contractors. To unify the approach for such evaluation, the intent of this paper is to assess the evaluation approaches used by a variety of building owners and then focus on the main criteria used for the evaluation. To achieve this objective, this study is divided into two phases. The first phase includes a review of literature on the main criteria that can be used to evaluate maintenance contracts, followed by interviews with building owners and maintenance contractors to modify and update the criteria obtained from this review. The result of this phase is grouped into eight major categories. Each category involves a detailed list of the criteria used for the evaluation. The main categories include providing proper planning and scheduling; procuring materials for the site; providing suggestions on cost cutting; providing safety precautions at the building site; subcontracting control; and ensuring management efficiency, equipment availability, and man-power competence. The second phase consists of developing and then distributing a questionnaire for both building owners and maintenance contractors to rank the importance of each one of the detailed criteria indicated in the first phase of the study. The results of this survey indicate the significance of the criteria that should be used to evaluate contractors. Furthermore, the study indicates that owners and maintenance contractors generally agree on the ranking of the importance of the performance criteria.
Article
Labour shortage in Malaysian construction industry is due to certain causes such as poor participation by local labour. In Malaysia, local youth would rather be unemployed despite working in the construction industry. This is attributed to the archaic employment practices, outdoor work and prevalence of the temporary and casual labour. The industry has been forced to rely on foreign labour, mostly from neighbouring countries. The government of Malaysia aims to reduce the number of foreign workers in the country from 1.84 million in 2005 to 1.5 million by 2010. It is envisaged that by this time, only 200,000 foreign workers will remains in the construction industry. The objectives of this study are; to identify the factors that led to the poor participation of local labour in the construction industry; to identify the critical factors that led to the poor participation of local labour; and to identify strategies to improve the participation of local labour in the construction industry. The method of the study involved literature review, data collection and an Average Index method was used for analysis. The data were gathered through questionnaire and interview. In conclusion, the respondents agreed that the first three major factors that led to the poor participation of local workforce in construction industry were related to uncomfortable, unsafe and unhealthy working conditions and temporary employment status. Five major strategies for the improvement on the local labour participation were to focus on training and advancement, employment status, enhance the safety practice and procedure and image of construction workers and site accommodations and services.
Labour Economy: Theory Supply and Demand. Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka, Ministry of Education Malaysia
  • Z Osman
Osman,Z. Labour Economy: Theory Supply and Demand. Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka, Ministry of Education Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur, 1989.
Kajian Hak Pekerja di Tapak Bina Mengikut Peruntukan Undang-Undang
  • Md Yusmady Bin
  • Junus
Yusmady bin Md Junus. Kajian Hak Pekerja di Tapak Bina Mengikut Peruntukan Undang-Undang. Master Project Report. Universiti Teknologi Malaysia; 2002.
Gradual freeze on intake of foreign workers. The Sun 23 Available on http
  • Husna Yusop
  • Najib
Husna Yusop, Najib: Gradual freeze on intake of foreign workers. The Sun 23 January 2009. Available on http://www.malaysianbar.org.my/legal/general_news/najib_gradual_freeze_on_intake_of_foreign_workers.html
Pengenalan Kepada Undang-Undang Perhubungan Perusahaan di Malaysia
  • S Z Jamaluddin
Jamaluddin, S.Z. Pengenalan Kepada Undang-Undang Perhubungan Perusahaan di Malaysia. Penerbit Universiti Malaya, Universiti Malaya, Kuala Lumpur. 2000.
Najib: Gradual freeze on intake of foreign workers
  • Husna Yusop
Husna Yusop, Najib: Gradual freeze on intake of foreign workers. The Sun 23 January 2009. Available on http://www.malaysianbar.org.my/legal/general_news/najib_gradual_freeze_on_intake_of_foreign_workers.html
Human Resources in Malaysian Construction Industry
  • Juliani Jamil
  • Yusof Zakaria Mohd
Juliani Jamil and Zakaria Mohd Yusof. Human Resources in Malaysian Construction Industry, 2nd International Conference on Businessand Economic Research (2nd ICBER 2011), Malaysia