Meanwhile, it does not hurt to gather good practices at, for instance, companies or government agencies, as they already have provided different ‘waves’ of migrants with jobs. The UK Health
and Safety Executive, for example, how been running a systematic and well-advertised campaign to inform Polish and other migrant construction workers about on site health and safety (see http:// www.hse.gov.uk/press/2009/e09077.htm). Another HSE website (see http://www.hse.gov.uk/construction/languages/index.htm) reinforces the message to construction workers that in UK health and safety law, all workers are protected, even if they are not working in the country legally. This is an important point because migrant workers believe that if they report an accident or injury to government authorities, they will be sent back to their own country, especially if they are in the UK illegally. Polish, Chinese and other national outreach workers have been recruited to support migrant workers of various nationalities within the UK construction sector. Such innovative practices should be adopted more widely across Europe, because although valid and reliable data on the subject seem to be lacking, the interview and other data collected from the current exploratory study indicate that protecting the health and safety of migrant workers in Europe is a key priority if unnecessary deaths and injuries are to be avoided.
Acknowledgements
This research project has been financed by the Dutch Ministry of Social Affairs and Employment, Case No. 5140-11485. We are indebted to Joy Oh for his help in setting up this study. The authors also wish to thank the various experts for their valuable time, observations and comments. Two anonymous reviewers helped us dot the i’s and cross the t’s.