This presentation will share highlights from a current, one-year training project focused on building health and safety capacity among workers and community organizations in Hong Kong/southern China. The project has been organized by the Asia Health and Safety Training Project, a partnership between the Maquiladora Health and Safety Support Network, the Labor Occupational Health Program at UC Berkeley, and Dara O’Rourke, a professor at Massachusetts Institute of Technology. The southern China training project brought together three distinct constituencies: a working group of Hong Kong and China-based non governmental organizations (NGO’s); representatives from brand-name international shoe factories and their local subcontractors running large factories in the industrialized Guangdong province in southern China; and occupational health professionals from the United States. These participants agreed to jointly conduct and evaluate a pilot, four-day health and safety training at a 13,000 worker shoe manufacturer in Summer, 2001. Training participants included shop floor-level workers, supervisor/managers, and staff and volunteers from the participating NGO’s in Hong Kong and China. Participating organizations also committed to providing six months of follow-up technical assistance and support for department-level health and safety committees within key areas of the factory. This presentation will discuss the project’s activities, results and impact to date, including lessons learned which are applicable to other parts of the world. See www.lohp.org
Learning Objectives: At the conclusion of this session, the participant will be able to: 1.) Describe health and safety issues facing workers in brand name international shoe factories in Southern China; 2.) Discuss key steps involved in creating successful partnerships among diverse groups.
Keywords: Occupational Health, Asian and Pacific Islander Women
Presenting author's disclosure statement:
Organization/institution whose products or services will be discussed: N/A
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.