Exploring the impact of alcohol abuse on construction sites in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic

The construction industry in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic is susceptible to human actions resulting in man-made safety hazards due to the impact of unregulated alcohol consumption and abuse by workers. Initial investigations identify that stress and pressures of work activities coupled with poor working conditions underpin why construction workers occupy the top tier in the scale of alcohol abuse. This study fills a gap in literature related to the excessive consumption of alcohol by construction workers and the need to have policies capable of regulating alcohol consumption in Santo Domingo construction sector. A qualitative approach using purposeful sampling and semi-structured interviews was adopted to evaluate the perception of participants working in the construction industry regarding alcohol consumption and abuse. The theme being investigated reached saturation after 12 interviews involving workers in multiple construction job roles. The findings suggest that alcohol is used as a coping mechanism by workers to deal with situations related to financial, emotional and personal difficulties. It also indicated that heavy drinking is part of the cultural norms, habits and ways of life. Although instances of alcohol abuse correlates to multiple incidences in the industry; there are no formal regulations in place to encourage, regulate and enforce such acts within the industry, so associated offenders are casually dismissed only for them to get another role in another project or organisation. To achieve meaningful change in the construction sector in Santo Domingo, the enactment of formal policies, collaboration of all stakeholders, the provision of education to increase awareness and the consequences of alcohol abuse should be prioritised. The limitation of this study was the lack of access to a more diverse participant base due to the sensitive nature of the topic. This study intends to be a precursor for further in-depth investigations of this theme.