Recommended reading
Developing an action-based health and safety training project in southern China.
Can worker participation lead to more effective health and safety programmes?
Authors:
B. Szudy; D. O’Rourke; G.D. Brown
Publisher:
College of Natural Resources, University of California, Berkley, 2003
This paper reports on a capacity building project on occupational safety and Health training in China. It is aimed at training staff in three footwear factories around the Pearl River Delta in occupational safety principles, and facilitating the inclusion of workers as full, active members of plant-wide health and safety committees.
The authors argue that while some of the lessons learned in this project are unique to China, many of the successes, challenges, and results can apply to other work places. However the individuals and organisations in this project have demonstrated that a well-designed training program combined with management commitment and worker involvement can help point the way toward improved systems of worker participation to reduce hazards in factories producing goods for global consumers.
Key lessons learned from the project include:
- it is essential to have commitment from top-level management
- building worker capacity and participation is central to an effective worker health and safety program
- using action-based training approaches and participatory methods is effective even in a more traditionally structured learning culture such as China (where students often are hesitant to speak up in classroom settings).
