Doha: The Supreme Committee for Delivery and Legacy’s implementation of the new quarterly audit regime has resulted in a number of notable improvements, including workers residing in better accommodation, positive changes in the recruitment practices of contractors and other contracted parties (OCPs), better employment conditions, and the timely payment of salaries.
The Supreme Committee for Delivery and Legacy (SC) released its fifth Annual Workers’ Welfare Progress Report which covers the period from February to December 2019.
The report highlights the most important achievements in the field of workers’ welfare, and the development of the procedures related to ensuring the health and safety of workers participating in the implementation of infrastructure works for the Qatar 2022 World Cup, as well as the challenges faced by the SC during this period.
The reporting period saw the continuing positive trend in compliance to the Workers Welfare Standards (WWS). The Supreme Committee for Delivery and Legacy’s implementation of the new quarterly audit regime has resulted in a number of notable improvements, including workers residing in better accommodation, positive changes in the recruitment practices of contractors and OCPs, better employment conditions, and the timely payment of salaries.
The report noted that 2019 saw enhanced coverage of Workers’ Welfare Forum (WWF), further elections undertaken and used as a key tool for grievance redress. The benefits of WWF are now experienced by 23,164 SC and 10,140 non-SC workers. In a desire to take this further, the Ministry of Administrative Development, Labor and Social Affairs and the International Labor Organization attended four WWF elections and meetings at 14 contractors/OCPs, as part of a study set to pave the way for the WWF model to be established throughout Qatar.
On the other hand, under the SCs Universal Reimbursement Scheme, 220 contractors and OCPs agreed to pay workers back towards those costs that would have been charged during their recruitment and relocation to Qatar. This currently covers more than 16,500 existing SC workers (and is expected to peak at more than 26,800). It accounts for 84% of the peak workforce across SC sites. There is a further spill-over to over 18,000 non-SC workers from 11 contractors. The total monetary benefit to these 44,900 workers amounts to QR110m over a period of 12-36 months.
Meanwhile, SC continues its efforts to ensure a rigorous and sustained culture of health, safety and welfare across SC projects. The SC collaborated in a major study commissioned by the International Labor Organization (ILO) and the Ministry of Administrative Development, Labor and Social Affairs to assess the impact of heat stress on workers. In addition, SC distributed over 12,000 cooling StayQool suits on workers across five sites, and user feedback shows promising results.
In the last quarter of the year, the SC began working with the Ministry of Public Health to design a comprehensive, integrated mental healthcare pathway and training program for all workers and clinicians employed on SC projects, with an ultimate view to wider adoption throughout Qatar.
In a further move to enhance the healthcare of workers, the SC partnered with TPP to provide a system of integrated electronic medical records. Nearly 37,000 workers have been registered under the TPP system, the first of its kind in Qatar, and 26,573 workers have received comprehensive examinations.
Commenting on the achievements included in the fifth Annual Workers Welfare Progress Report, Secretary-General of the Supreme Committee for Delivery and Legacy, Hassan Al Thawadi (pictured), said that the report highlights the efforts exerted by the SC in the field of workers’ welfare.
He expressed pleasure to see the positive impact of these efforts even on non-SC workers, which will contribute to strengthening the vital legacy of improving the conditions of the workforce in the State of Qatar.
Al Thawadi underlined that the initiatives launched by SC have succeeded to making positive changes and contributing greatly to developing the best practices for worker welfare on a global scale.
Despite its remarkable accomplishments year after year, the Workers Welfare program continues to experience a number of challenges, including resistance amongst some contractors and OCPs in complying with the remuneration and worker empowerment requirements of the WWS; delays in receiving information from contractors about the mobilization of OCPs on sites; and instances of resistance from OCPs to facilitating audits and inspections and being inadequately prepared for them.
The SC has, in previous years, undertaken measures including pre-compliance procedures that have achieved much in securing better compliance rates. This year, additionally, sanctions have been greatly strengthened.
SC Workers Welfare Department Executive Director Mahmoud Qutub expressed pleasure for the support and commitment shown by most contractors as part of the Sc’s endeavors to enhance worker welfare standards across the country.
He noted that SC has gained a lot of experience and its business has evolved over the past years, which qualifies it to extend the impact of the standards of worker welfare and the scope of their application outside Qatar and beyond the championship.
He added that SC strives to intensify efforts to effectively address issues of workers' welfare in the hospitality sector and other services related to the host country, such as security, accommodation and transportation, with the support of the relevant authorities.
“We hope that this will contribute to establishing a lasting legacy for the 2022 World Cup, which will be held for the first time in the Middle East and the Arab world,” he said.
