New ILO training materials

The ILO EASMAT Senior Advisor on Occupational health and safety, Tsuyoshi Kawakami has produced a new training program (Work Improvement in Neighbourhood development: Training programme on Safety, Health and Working conditions in agriculture). This time it is part of a project targeted to the agricultural sector. The materials are developed from earlier Workplace Inspection Checklists used in a variety of ILO publications including Building industry, General industry, the JILAF Positive program and Work Improvement in Small Enterprises (WISE) program for employers. 

The booklet has been developed from projects conducted in Vietnam by Kawakami as part of the WIND program: Work Improvement in Neighbourhood Development. The focus is on low-cost solutions. The inspection Action checklist used in the earlier programs has been developed for use by farmers and agricultural workers. There are many examples of good practice drawn from the experience of conducting the program in Vietnam. There are very clear drawings and some photographs of the real thing so that anyone using the manual knows that the drawings are based on real examples and therefore may feel more confident about trying them out.

The categories in the Action checklist are:

• Materials storage and handling
• Work station design and work tools
• Machine safety
• Work environment and control of hazardous agents
• Welfare facilities
• Work organisation 
  

Under each heading are a number of questions (these follow the earlier style) and a picture as an example:

Any trainer familiar with the earlier materials can readily use these materials to train agricultural workers.
The package should also be made available on CD-ROM and the ILO Website. While printed booklets are important it is also necessary to provide the materials in a form that can be readily presented in, for example, PowerPoint presentations.

1. JILAF: Japanese International Labour Foundation. POSITIVE Participation-Oriented Safety Improvements by Trade union InitiatiVE program designed to encourage active workers to begin to deal with some of the more obvious workplace hazards. 

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