MOST Myanmar building workers are uninsured for injury or death, say construction company sources. They say the industry cannot afford insurance for the large numbers of casual workers involved.

U Win Htay, the managing director of Real Goal Construction, said the construction industry was still suffering the effects of the global recession, and that developers’ main focus was on running their projects.

“In this period of low spending power and slow construction, developers are reducing their construction workloads. We’re stressing the need to carry out projects, which create jobs for workers,” he said.

U Win Htay said the construction industry relies mainly on daily workers.

“We have about 60 daily workers, or twice that depending on work conditions. Their daily wages range from K2500 to K5000, which is enough for daily survival, but not insurance expenses.

“From the developers’ point of view it’s hard because they’re temporary workers and can change jobs very easily. It makes it hard to keep track for insurance purposes,” he said.

U Win Htay said the current hard conditions in the construction industry made it harder to offer life insurance for workers.

“Labour life insurance is necessary because accidents and deaths can take place on building sites. But the main priority of construction companies right now is just to keep their projects going,” he said.

Profits in the building trade are thin, and there is resistance to taking on extra costs, he added.

“I think life insurance for labourers will be established in 2011-2012 when the global recession eases,” he said.

U Ko Ko Lay, the director of Three Friends Construction, said that in a period of low spending power, developers had to squeeze labour costs, especially for temporary workers.

“A site could employ 50 to 200 daily workers depending on the project’s size. If we pay annual insurance for each one, the expense will be huge. It will make it impossible for developers to run four or five projects at the same time during such a critical period,” he said.

U Kyaw Thet, another Three Friends director, said labour insurance was not normally offered in the construction sector because more than half the workers were temporary and highly mobile.

“Most of the industry does not insure labour because 85 percent of the workers are short-term and only 15pc are permanent,” he said.

Dr Mg Maung Thein, the general manager of Myanma Insurance, said that only construction firms backed by foreign investment offered labour insurance, and local companies were much poorer.

He said his department had no record of insurance payouts for death or injuries in construction accidents, despite the risks workers faced.