Exploring Psychosocial Issues of Labourers Working In Brick Kilns of Punjab

Abstract

The construction industry is one of the very important pillars of generating revenue for any country. It is divided into many small units of industries from the brick kiln industry to the cement industry. All these small units work together and are dependent on each other. The common element of all these units is labour who still works in conventional ways to achieve the targets, especially in underdeveloped countries. Among these jobs, one of the hardest jobs of labour is working in the baking sector in a brick kiln. They are named jalai walas. Their main job is to maintain the temperature of the heated lanes which are baking bricks and put coal in them for this purpose. Due to intense heated conditions and long duty hours, they suffer from many physical injuries and recent researches illustrate their physical health issues very briefly but due to these health hazards their mental health and social well-being are also suffering.  The purpose of this study is to explore the underlying psychosocial issues of those labourers who are working in the baking sector and to give a detailed analysis of these issues, Exploratory Descriptive design was used and through purposive sampling 8 interviews, and a focus group discussion were conducted. Semi-structured interviews were taken. The age range of participants was 25 to 35 with job experience of 2 to 7 years. Three master themes come out after the process of NVivo data analysis. Which were (1) Unhealthy Working Environment, (2) Emotional and behavioural Instability, and (3) Socio-Economic Unrest. These are the major psychosocial issues of labourers working in the baking sector of Bick kilns in Punjab. These findings highlight the importance of psychological and social problems of the labourers who need to attend to for progress and psychological strength.