Global multi-stakeholder taskforce aims to improve safety outcomes for construction workers in the informal economy

Lloyd’s Register Foundation have announced a new multi-stakeholder partnership, led by the International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED), to produce safety recommendations for the informal construction industry in Kenya, India and the Philippines.

Convening a global consortium of community-led partners; Jan Sahas Foundation (India), TAMPEI and Base Bahay Foundation (Philippines), and Slum Dwellers International Kenya (Kenya), the project will develop country-level diagnostic research papers, comprising of worker surveys, focus group discussions, regulator interviews and stakeholder mapping, that will be synthesised into a cross-country comparative report with practical safety guidance to support the implementation and scaling of welfare instruments that improve safety outcomes for informal workers.

Dr. Alex Barcena, Urban Risk Researcher, International Institute for Environment and Development, said: “Occupational safety risks are not simply technical problems. They are also expressions of wider inequalities in how construction is governed, particularly where informal workers have limited voice and negotiating power over the conditions in which they work. Through Urban Living Labs, this project will go beyond identifying risks and possible solutions: it will bring workers, public authorities and other actors together to build the institutional relationships through which informal workers can have greater influence over the decisions that shape their safety and livelihoods.”

The Lloyd’s Register Foundation’s World Risk Poll shows the proportion of the global workforce who report being harmed has remained high; just under one in six (16%) in the 2025 Poll say they have been harmed in the past two years. Despite high numbers of fatalities, the ILO highlight that the "availability of occupational safety and health (OSH) initiatives targeting the informal economy remains limited due to numerous barriers, including cost, time, accessibility and fragmentation of efforts."

An estimated 60% of the global workforce is employed informally and, in some low- and middle-income countries (LMIC), informal employment represents up to 90% of the total workforce. Global estimates show that 2.93 million workers die every year, with informal workers likely to be disproportionately affected and underrepresented in official data.

This is particularly relevant in the three priority countries. In India, an estimated 38 construction workers die on site every day. In Kenya, the fatality rate among construction workers is approximately 64 per 100,000 annually, with falls and falling objects accounting for two-thirds of accidents. In the Philippines, recorded construction injuries rose by 83% between 2015 and 2019. Despite this, no evaluated, low-cost intervention has been published in any of these countries with evidence to reduce serious harm for informal construction workers.

This project addresses this gap directly. Across these three countries, local partners will document how acute and chronic hazards are produced along the construction value chain, identify where institutional levers for change lie, and convene decision makers who can improve safety outcomes for construction workers in high-risk contexts.

By fundamentally changing who is visible to construction safety systems, and what evidence those systems can act on, it will produce change at three different levels – for workers and organisations, actors in the construction ecosystem, and for the global safety evidence community who can lay the foundations for further refinement and scale.

Milly Hooke, Programme Manager, Lloyd's Register Foundation, said: "People working in the informal economy often experience some of the highest levels of occupational risk whilst having access to some of the lowest levels of protection. At Lloyd’s Register Foundation, we take an evidence-led approach to identifying where we can drive the greatest impact."

"Through this project, we look forward to deepening our understanding of the risks faced by informal construction workers and the factors that contribute to them. We're particularly excited about the partnership at the heart of this project. By bringing together workers, researchers, industry, regulators and policymakers, the project recognises that reducing harm requires more than understanding risk alone. It requires the workers who experience risks and the institutions, that can influence them, to work together to co-produce evidence, identify practical solutions and drive meaningful change together."

Final outputs will be openly accessible through IIED's Publications Library and open archive to sustain engagement in the future.