Fifth Annual Workers’ Welfare Progress Report February – December 2019 Contents 1 Glossary of Terms 2 Letter from the Secretary General 4 About the Supreme Committee for Delivery & Legacy 6 About the Workers’ Welfare Department 8 Workers’ Welfare Journey 10 Workers’ Welfare Standards 12 Executive Summary 14 Compliance and Audits 30 Health and Safety 42 Engagement and Outreach 48 Challenges 52 The Way Forward Glossary of Terms BWI Building and Wood Workers’ International H&S Health & Safety HBKU Hamad Bin Khalifa University HMC Hamad Medical Corporation IIP Incident Investigation Procedure ILO International Labour Organization JWG Joint Working Group MoADLSA Ministry of Administrative Development, Labour and Social Affairs MoPH Ministry of Public Health NMHO National Mental Health Office OCP Other Contracting Party OHS Occupational Health & Safety PWWF Project Workers’ Welfare Forums PWWO Project Workers’ Welfare Officer QISC Qatar International Safety Centre QRC Qatar Red Crescent RIDDOR Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations SC Supreme Committee for Delivery & Legacy SESRI Social and Economic Survey Research Institute TDO Technical Delivery Office Tournament FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022™ TPP The Phoenix Partnership WBGT Wet Bulb Globe Temperature WCM-Q Weill Cornell Medicine-Qatar WR Workers’ Representative WWD Workers’ Welfare Department WWF Workers’ Welfare Forums WWO Workers’ Welfare Officer WWS Workers’ Welfare Standards 1 Letter from the Secretary General Transparency and accountability are vital for ensuring genuine Grievance mechanisms are essential tools for our Sadly, nine non-work related deaths occurred during this progress and development on a matter of such critical workers to express their opinions and issues in a safe reporting period. We investigate each death through our Our legacy importance as Workers’ Welfare. This is the fifth edition of environment, and to know that a system exists where Incident Investigation Procedure (IIP). This procedure the Supreme Committee for Delivery & Legacy’s (SC) Annual those issues are addressed and rectified. They are also identifies factors that contributed to the incident and within the Workers’ Welfare Progress Report. This document is the critical for the SC, as they provide us with a system from provides a guideline for preventative measures that can foundation for our public reporting, standing along with the which we can learn what works and what doesn’t, and be implemented to mitigate against any repeat incident. industry is reports we issue in collaboration with our partner, Building adjust our programme accordingly. Our Workers’ Welfare Any loss of life on our programme is deeply saddening, and Wood Workers’ International (BWI), and those published Forums (WWF) now cover 23,164 SC and 10,140 non-SC and I extend my heartfelt condolences to the families reliant on independently by third-party monitor, Impactt Ltd. Addressing workers. In a similar vein to our recruitment fee initiative, and kin of those who passed away. worker welfare is a multi-stakeholder operation, extending contractors are recognising the benefits in effective and contractors beyond our borders, and we have always appreciated the transparent grievance systems and applying our vision Through our efforts to mandate annual health checks benefit of scrutiny on our efforts to improve lives and better to workers on non-SC projects. The International Labour for every worker employed by any contractors on our understanding industry practice in this sphere. Organization (ILO) and the Ministry of Administrative programme, we are steadfastly committed to reduce and Development, Labour and Social Affairs (MoADLSA) are ultimately eliminate deaths caused by existing medical the benefits of I’m pleased to note some positive trends in this latest report. working with us to study the potential application of conditions or ailments. In previous years, and in particular during the initial periods WWF across the State of Qatar. good practice of our reporting and activity, much of our focus was on the An important development in the upcoming reporting rectification of accommodation conditions and positively On that note, our progress is highly dependent on period is the integration of mental health awareness and and integrating influencing long-standing industry norms that served as our relationships with our stakeholders. Our excellent treatment options. We’ve engaged relevant partners obstacles to the progress we aspired to. cooperation with MoADLSA and ILO has and will in improving accessibility to psychiatric treatment and them into their continue to play an important role in the implementation counselling, and will further develop this with training for normal business This year’s report is a reflection of the maturity of our work. of our programme and ensuring legacies beyond 2022. workers, contractor staff and clinicians in mental health Our robust audit system, combined with rigid enforcement of Our Joint Working Group (JWG) with BWI continues to awareness. We consider this a critical extension of our procedures, with our pre-mobilisation process, have led to better compliance, impact our workers positively, enhancing health and comprehensive health strategy and believe that our and better conditions for our workforce across the board. safety on our sites, and monitoring the WWF elections contractors will understand the importance of this and the SC and their for integrity and effectiveness. Numerous other partner extend it to their workforces beyond their SC contracts. I’m very proud of the continuing development in our entities are contributing to our work, all of which are other clients. collaboration with contractors to remunerate workers who mentioned in the report. In addition to this, the report I wish to conclude this foreword by sincerely thanking have paid illegal recruitment fees in their home countries. contains a special section highlighting a group of local every man and woman engaged on our projects for Ethical recruitment is integrated into our Workers’ Welfare contractors who are successfully applying our vision their contribution towards helping us deliver the Standards (WWS) and contractor compliance is a critical and extending it to workers outside of our projects. first FIFA World Cup 2022™ in the Middle East and element in pre-approval for work with the SC. Our contractors Our legacy within the industry is reliant on contractors the Arab world. I am driven to ensure that a critical are now on course to remunerate 44,900 workers a total of understanding the benefits of good practice and legacy of this tournament will be improved conditions QAR 110 million over a period of 12-36 months. I’m even integrating them into their normal business procedures, for the workforce in our country, and to influence, prouder to note that 18,000 of those 44,900 are non-SC with the SC and their other clients. contribute to, and develop best practice on a global workers, which 11 contractors have applied our initiative to. scale. This challenge will not cease in December 2022. I have consistently maintained that while the progress We will continue to enhance our efforts through hard Our focus on compliance and remuneration also encompasses we’ve made deserves recognition, significant challenges work, grounded in cooperation, transparency, and enforcement of minimum salaries and provision of return air remain, and the journey that we have embarked on accountability. Our commitment is to continuous long- tickets. Combined with our drive on repayment of recruitment will continue long beyond 2022. We will continue to term sustainable progress resulting in better industry fees, this has led to a 15-18% increase in workers’ annual favour an engagement-first approach to provide willing practice, better enforcement and compliance, and compensation. In addition to this, we’ve placed emphasis on contractors the opportunity to improve. However, in ultimately, improving lives. encouraging contractors to provide life insurance cover to cases where engagement clearly isn’t working, we are workers, in order to protect their families. strengthening sanctions for non-compliance to our standards. This is of acute importance as we transition Sincerely, towards the final 18-24 months of competition-specific Hassan Al Thawadi infrastructure construction. 2 3 About the Supreme Committee for Delivery & Legacy Established in 2011 by the State of Qatar, the SC is responsible for the delivery of the competition venues – the stadiums and training sites. Its goal is to enable Qatar to host an amazing and historic FIFA World Cup 2022™ and to deliver the tournament so that it accelerates progress towards achieving national development goals and creates a lasting legacy for Qatar, the Middle East, Asia and the world. Together, the stadiums, non-competition venues and wider infrastructure will underpin a compact and connected FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022™ (the Tournament) with sustainability and accessibility at its heart. And when the Tournament is over, the stadiums and surrounding precincts will become vibrant hubs of community life – an integral part of the legacy we are building. Working with the Qatar 2022 Local Organising Committee (LOC), the SC is also responsible for FIFA World Cup 2022™ host country planning and operations. Families and groups of fans arriving from around the world will experience a secure, human-centred Tournament that both celebrates and exemplifies the hospitality for which Qatar