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Occupational Safety and Health Training for the Workers in the Informal Economy

Twenty five informal workers attended the OSH Training held on February 24-26, 2010 at the Occupational Health and Safety Center in Quezon City.  As a follow-up on the OSH appreciation course conducted in July 2009 by OSHC for the Homenet and MAGCAISA, the three-day program brought together trainers and leaders from the informal workers groups of waste pickers, construction workers, homebased workers, vendors and small transport groups. The training was conducted by the AMRC in partnership with the HomeNet South East Asia with the support of the Occupational Safety and Health Center.

 
Among the guest speakers from the OSHC were the OSHC Executive Director, Dr. Teresita Cucueco who delivered an opening remarks; Ms. Rosanna Tubelonia, the current division chief of the ASHC Training and Public Information Division, who gave an overview of the current OSH policies and programs at both national and local levels that informal workers can have access to.  Mr. Jesus Macasil of the ILO Manila who is in charge of social protection, shared information about the ILO Decent Work Common Agenda which has a strong provision on OSH.  Omana George of the AMRC and Melody Kemp, an OSH specialist facilitated the learning sessions.  They talked about the sad realities of OSH in Asia on the one hand and initiatives to help increase the level of awareness on OSH such as formation of the Asian Network for the Rights of Occupational Accident Victims (ANROAV).  Participatory learning activities livened up the training sessions and focused on  hazards control strategies, ergonomics, fire, mapping exercise, sexual harassment and other gender issues, data collection, PPEs and Planning.