Alcohol consumption patterns of construction workers in Hong Kong

Abstract

Alcohol consumption is prevalent among construction workers, and it may have negative implications for workers’ overall health, productivity, and safety performance. The alcohol-related risks are associated with drinking pattern and consumption volume. To understand the drinking pattern and help devise effective interventions to prevent drinking problem in construction workers in Hong Kong, the research team conducted a one-month drinking pattern survey with a convenience sample of construction workers on railway projects in Hong Kong, using the Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (AUDIT) as the primary instrument. With 1203 valid responses, the research team compared alcohol-related risk exposure among different categories of workers through Chi-squared tests. The results showed that 16.6% of respondents drink excessively, and 28% drink in a harmful way. Furthermore, male workers are prone to more severe alcohol-related risks than their female counterparts, Nepalese workers are exposed to more severe alcoholrelated risks than their Chinese counterparts, workers in four trades (i.e., mechanics, welders, shotfirers, and miners) are more likely to experience alcohol-related risks than others, and workers in the age group of 30-39 are subject to more severe alcohol-related risks. The findings can help regulatory bodies formulate industry-wide codes of practice and prompt management to give special attention to certain categories of workers.