A Framework for providing a lifelong social security system for the operational workforce in the construction Industry in Sri Lanka

Abstract

Construction is a projectised industry. One of the important resource requirements for construction projects is the availability of an operational workforce for its physical production. Hence, the operational workforce is a critical deciding factor in the success and failure of construction projects. The construction sector in Sri Lanka is suffering from a shortage of a required operational workforce for its physical operations even though the unemployment rate in Sri Lanka is about 5.2%. Research has further highlighted that “work” and “pay” are only the surface factors, hiding underneath them (similar to an iceberg) are a multitude of different problems and the psychological needs of the workers. In addition to the shortage, there is a lack of an organised structure for human resources, which delivers time, cost and quality related behavioural constraints within the construction industry of Sri Lanka since circa the 1980’s. The aim of the research is to develop a sustainable framework for a lifelong social security system for the operational workforce of the construction industry in Sri Lanka without increasing the prevailing construction costs. The hypothesis is the minimising of resource wastages and behavioural impacts of current practices and the introduction a secured future life through a new system of lifelong social security [PR/SS] for the operational workforce. It is anticipated that the finances required for providing a social security system can be salvaged from the recovery values of material and time wastages and the demand and supply impacts generated as repercussions from the behavioural practices of the current operational workforce. The research instruments used for gathering primary and secondary data for evaluating the financial impacts of behavioural constraints were a questionnaire survey and audited financial statements. About 400 questionnaires (That were premeditated to calculate the monetary impacts of the social behaviors of the construction operatives via ‘degree of importance’ and ‘relative important index’) were distributed to higher management of contracting organisations in Sri Lanka. A further request was made to the contracting organisations to provide audited statements for the past five years. From the research, it was identified that the unavailability of a human resources structure is a major constraint for the construction industry in Sri Lanka. Salvaged finances that could derive from the removal of the transitional layers of risk multiplication and the removal of the behavioural constraints of the construction operatives are sufficient to finance a lifelong social security system for themselves. Based on the research findings, framework for the Building Forces of Sri Lanka [BFSL] was developed to overcome from the interim thinking pattern of the current construction operatives. In the current system, contracting organisations are not capable of providing the required training for the operatives. With the implementation of BFSL alongside the strong intervention from statutory organisations, a trained operational workforce can be developed to face any situation within the construction arena in Sri Lanka.