Extreme weather, vulnerability and conflicting temporalities among craftsmen in the construction and the industrial sectors

• Mode of collection: Interview
• Description of the mode of collection: The data consists of 16 semi-structured qualitative interviews with professionals (14 men and 2 women) in the construction sector and industry sector. The interviews were conducted digitally via Teams or Zoom, partly because the interviewees were spread across the country and because digital interviews can be experienced as safe and practical by the interviewees. The interviews were 30-90 minutes long and were based on a list of questions. However, the interviewees were given the opportunity to take the initiative for conversation topics themselves. The questions focused on how work is affected by difficult weather conditions – for example, high temperatures, heavy rainfall and strong winds – which are expected to increase with climate change. The interviewees were recruited in collaboration with the trade union Byggnads.
• Time period(s) for data collection: 2024-01-01 – 2024-12-31
• Data collector: Umeå University
• Source of the data: Population group

Funding

• Funding agency: Formas
• Funding agency's reference number: 2022-01841_Formas
• Project name on the application: Inconspicuous adaption to climate changes in vulnerable occupations. An ethnographic study
• Funding information: Climate change with strong winds, extensive rainfall and prolonged heat waves represent an increasing challenge for many occupational groups. Construction workers, road workers and care staff are particularly vulnerable groups. This study focuses on the significance of climate change for these occupational groups. The purpose is to investigate the informal climate adaptation that characterizes everyday professional practice. More specifically, the purpose is to explore how professionals’ climate adaptation takes place through the development of new or changed working practices. The purpose is also to investigate how knowledge produced within the project can be implemented in concrete measures for climate adaptation.The study is motivated by the fact that Sweden is late in terms of climate adaptation of the labor market. There is also a lack of knowledge about the importance of informal, everyday experiences of climate adaptation in working life, and of the importance of social and cultural categories for experiences of climate change. According to the present project, this can be understood in terms of cross-cutting challenges between a formal (decision-making) and an informal (everyday) level, as well as between different perspectives on knowledge. The work with climate adaptations of the labor market needs to learn more from concrete professional experiences of climate change, and to consider what gender, ethnicity and age mean for how professionals handle these changes.