Protective Clothing for Women Labour on Construction Sites, Delhi

According to NTPC Safety Rules building worker means “A person who is employed by a contractor or his subcontractor to do any skilled, semi-skilled or manual, supervisory, technical or clerical work for hire or reward, whether the terms of employment be expressed or implied, in connection with any building or other construction work.” (Rules, 2012). Construction industry is the backbone of the economy as they provide job opportunity to the creators of modern India. The labour strength comprises of both skilled and unskilled workforce. In the current scenario of everyday development of Indian economy, these construction workers play an indispensable role. Female workers abroad are provided with proper protective clothing depending on the kind of work being assigned to them, but unfortunately none was found in Delhi during the study. The focus of the study is to understand the nature of work on site and identify the key factors related to the problems faced by female workers while on site in terms of clothing. The interaction with the female labours and the field study has revealed the problems that women are currently facing. The study further leads to systematically design and development of protective clothing for female workers which caters to the functional aspect designed by keeping in mind the cultural essence also. The knowledge gained via survey and the interview conducted on 46 female workers on construction site, helped understanding their requirement and offering them a functional solution in their clothing to ease their problems.