Review of the hygiene campaign in the construction industry: still areas for improvement needed

The campaign made it possible to promote good practices on the one hand, and to carry out a diagnosis in the field on the other.

While the campaign was welcomed with interest by companies (83% of companies surveyed said they were interested in the subject), the diagnosis reveals areas for improvement that are necessary in light of the 11% of companies that say they are not implementing anything on their construction sites, rising to 20% for VSEs. However, access to water or toilets are major issues for health at work, attractiveness and performance in the construction sector.

Post-campaign survey: messages heard that still need to be acted upon

At the end of the campaign, the OPPBTP conducted a Viavoice study[1] to measure its concrete impact on companies in the sector. The panel was representative, with 4.934 companies surveyed, mainly structural work companies (34%), but also a large proportion of finishing work (22%) and carpentry and roofing companies (25%). The majority of companies had fewer than 50 employees (81%), and more than half had fewer than 10 employees.

• The overall perception is very good: the campaign interested 83% of respondents, while 72% believe that it has raised awareness of the importance of hygiene on construction sites and identified significant room for improvement in this area.
• However, only 34% of the companies surveyed who recognised an element of the campaign say they have taken action, and only one in five companies say they are more concerned by the subject after the hygiene campaign.
• An ever-improving level of information: more than 4 out of 5 companies surveyed say they have a good level of information, particularly in large companies. In addition, since the Covid crisis, the subject has been taken into consideration even more.
• Little-used content and tools: while 62% of respondents found that the posters made them want to visit the hygienebtp.fr website, only 1 in 3 companies actually visited the site. Among them, 24% downloaded the “Choosing a life base and/or hygiene facility for your construction site” selection guide or other documentary resources from the Toolbox.

A barometer on the reality of construction sites which draws on two complementary surveys

The campaign planned to produce a barometer carried out during two separate surveys: on the one hand, a survey[2] conducted among workers by the occupational health and prevention services, with anonymous questionnaires completed in the waiting room during medical visits, and on the other hand, field diagnostics carried out by OPPBTP advisors on construction sites[3]. The variety of panel profiles and company sizes thus made it possible to obtain very complementary visions.

The questions aimed to assess the reality on the ground on five essential themes: access to water, toilets, conditions for taking breaks and meals, and protective clothing.

• Among the construction industry employees surveyed, 71% said they were satisfied with the situation on construction sites.
• The concept of hygiene is important for business leaders. They feel concerned, and yet, 11% of respondents do not take action, and this figure rises to 20% among VSEs. The Covid period had been rich in lessons, but 12% of business leaders admit to having learned nothing today, and this figure even reaches 28% for the carpentry and roofing trades.

Results that allow areas of attention to be defined

Feedback and testimonials make it possible to identify numerous areas for improvement in order to improve the installations on the life bases, better anticipate their organization upstream of the construction sites and, above all, significantly optimize their maintenance when they are present.

Currently, 46% of premises are poorly maintained, meaning they are cleaned once a week, making them difficult to use, especially when there is a high level of footfall.

While between 80 and 98% of those surveyed say they have a water point, in concrete terms, between 24 and 27% also say they resort to "System D", i.e. using water in jerry cans or water from the public system, or even no water at all.

• 44% of construction sites do not have showers, while exposure to pollutants has been identified. When they are present, 33% are not maintained or cannot be used.
• In two thirds of cases, protective clothing is washed at home, while 80% of construction sites are considered polluting by employers, which presents a risk of contamination, including for family members.
• Between 15 and 29% of meals are taken in vehicles, figures which rise to 33% for public works activities, and to 47% for short construction sites.

Better planning of the design of living quarters, which would integrate hygiene from the start of the work, would ensure that the facilities are in place and functional from the start. This new data will make it possible to organize the action of the construction sectors in a sustainable manner in favor of better working conditions on construction sites.

A communication operation that performed well on social networks

The hygienebtp.fr website, dedicated to the campaign, recorded 198.000 unique visitors and 263.000 page views.

• 3.718 page views of the Toolbox, targeting 250.000 companies.
• The three national webinars, co-hosted with occupational health prevention services, brought together a total of 293 participants. The satisfaction rate for the webinars is excellent: they were judged to be clear and rated 4.5/5.
• The information meetings brought together 714 individuals, a figure in line with the usual average.
• Six new awareness posters were created and widely downloaded. They were used by 40% of companies.
• The campaign experimented with broadcasting short videos on TikTok, with three videos that obtained 251.000 impressions, 14.700 reactions and some 50.000 clicks, very good scores for a first experience on this social network.

[1] Quantitative and qualitative survey carried out by Viavoice from December 6 to 22, 2023 among 4934 companies surveyed, 4229 online and 705 by telephone.

[2] Carried out from October 9 to November 20, 2023, 7655 construction workers responded, 1336 online and 6319 via a paper questionnaire.

[3] Carried out from October 9 to 27, 2023, according to a representative panel of the construction industry with 50% of known companies, 50% of unknown companies, 239 construction company managers and 238 companions responded.