At present, many regions in the country have issued documents to further standardize the management of employment age of construction enterprises, and the issue of the way out for over-aged migrant workers after bidding farewell to the construction site has attracted attention. Some migrant workers expressed their understanding that "they are old and slow to respond. Once something goes wrong, the family will be overwhelmed." Others are worried that their income will be affected and they are not used to other things.
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Many places have introduced policies to repel over-age migrant workers.
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The change of employment in Shanghai’s construction field originated in 2019. The Shanghai Municipal Commission of Housing and Urban-Rural Development, the Municipal Bureau of Human Resources and Social Security and the Municipal Federation of Trade Unions jointly issued a document, clearly stipulating that three types of personnel, namely, men under the age of 18, men over the age of 60 and women over the age of 50, are prohibited from entering the construction site to engage in construction operations. At the same time, it is further stipulated that men over the age of 55 and women workers over the age of 45 are prohibited from entering the construction site to engage in underground, high-altitude, high-temperature, particularly heavy physical labor In May 2021, Shanghai Construction Engineering Safety and Quality Supervision Station issued this work reminder again.
Tianjin stipulates that if it is really necessary to arrange or use over-age construction workers due to special circumstances, the construction unit shall verify the health certificate of over-age workers (valid for one year) and reasonably arrange jobs according to the specific conditions of the project.
Huanggang, Hubei, further subdivides the workers who enter the construction site into three categories. On the basis of local regulations, it is added that "registered construction engineers and registered supervision engineers are prohibited from entering the project site to engage in construction management when they are over 65 years old" and "main technical posts such as project vice president and technical chief engineer refer to registered management personnel, and in principle, it is not recommended to participate in technical management on the construction site after they are over 65 years old".
Why should we repel over-age migrant workers?
Cui Yong, head of the safety department of Shanghai Construction Engineering Safety and Quality Supervision Station, said that among the people who died in the construction industry safety accidents in 2018, the proportion of people over 60 years old reached 15%, while among the construction workers at that time, the proportion of people over 60 years old was only 1%.
Cui Yong also stressed that the statement that "over-aged migrant workers can’t enter the construction site" is exaggerated in some news. The document clearly stipulates that over-aged employees can’t engage in construction operations, while other auxiliary positions on the construction site, such as cleaning, security and warehouse management, are not affected. I also hope that the construction party will provide more comprehensive arrangements for over-aged migrant workers.
Yang guang Wang ping
It is a good intention to restrict or prohibit over-age migrant workers from engaging in construction work. There are many high-altitude operations, open-air operations, manual and heavy operations in construction sites, which have high-risk characteristics. The physical strength of over-age migrant workers decreases, the response slows down, and the risk index rises. Standardizing the employment age is responsible for the health and life safety of elderly workers and is necessary for safe production.
Say goodbye to the construction site, not to the security. Many over-age migrant workers are not idle, but cannot be idle. They may come from remote areas and have worked in urban construction sites all their lives. Once they bid farewell to the construction sites, it may become a problem to make a living. If they return home, they will also face the difficulties of employment and income, and without the support of pension, it is difficult to feel at ease in providing for the elderly. Therefore, we can’t just give it up, but we should comprehensively and properly arrange the way out and guarantee for the elderly migrant workers.
It should be noted that it is not appropriate to engage in "one size fits all" and dismiss all over-age migrant workers. We should make proper arrangements according to individual health conditions. Some over-age migrant workers who have good physical fitness and can still work in construction sites can arrange jobs that do not require aerial work and consume relatively little physical strength? Can some over-age migrant workers change their jobs or guide their transformation, such as guarding, keeping, cleaning and decorating?
With the arrival of an aging society, the number of over-aged migrant workers is increasing. Local governments need to take precautions and establish corresponding security systems as soon as possible based on the principle of "income from work and a sense of security for the elderly" to provide them with basic social security, so that they can "retire" in a relatively stable way and live a happy old age.
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