QNA
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 SC’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 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 Organisation 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 QAR 110 Million 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 Labour Organisation (ILO) and the Ministry of Administrative Development, Labour 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.