Workers' Guide to Health and Safety
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Workers’ Guide to Health and Safety by Todd Jailer Miriam Lara-Meloy and Maggie Robbins health guides Berkeley, California, USA Copyright © 2015 by Hesperian Health Guides. All rights reserved. ISBN: 978-0-942364-71-2 Hesperian encourages you to copy, reproduce, or adapt any or all parts of this book, including the illustrations, provided that you do this for non-commercial purposes, credit Hesperian, and follow the other requirements of Hesperian’s Open Copyright License (see www.hesperian.org/about/open-copyright). For certain kinds of adaptation and distribution, we ask that you first obtain permission from Hesperian. Contact [email protected] to use any part of this book: for commercial purposes; in quantities more than 100 print copies; in any digital format; or with an organizational budget more than US $1 million. We also ask that you contact Hesperian for permission before beginning any translation, to avoid duplication of efforts, and for suggestions about adapting the information in this book. Please send Hesperian a copy of any materials in which text or illustrations from this book have been used. THIS EDITION CAN BE IMPROVED WITH YOUR HELP. If you are a worker health promoter, occupational safety and health professional, community organizer, or anyone with ideas or suggestions for ways this book could be changed to better meet the needs of your community, please write to Hesperian. Thank you for your help. This book has been printed in Canada by Friesens, an employee-owned corporation, on 100% post-consumer, chlorine-free, recycled paper. health guides Hesperian Health Guides 1919 Addison St. #304 Berkeley, California 94704 USA www.hesperian.org Credits Editorial oversight Cover design Project support Todd Jailer Kathleen Tandy Catherine Doe Sarah Shannon Design and production Yelena Ionova Editorial management Iñaki Fernandez Additional project support Catherine Doe Shu Ping Guan Kathleen Bubriski Miriam Lara-Meloy Kathleen Tandy Lilian Chen Kathleen Vickery Art Coordination Amber Collins Additional writing and Catherine Doe Kate Dube research Miriam Lara-Meloy Alison Hamburg Kathleen Bubriski Sa Liu Community review Lila Marshall Diane Bush coordination Aryn Faur Patricia Navarro Catherine Doe Candace O’Bryann Michele Gonzalez Arroyo Todd Jailer Yelena Ionova Sana Patel Miriam Lara-Meloy Maria Rosales Michelle Maggie Robbins Loya-Talamantes Michaela Simmons Tara Mathur Technical review Nainwant Singh Tom O’Connor Garrett Brown Proofreading Suzanne Teran Tom Gassert Sunah Cherwin Enrique Medina Indexing Rory O’Neill Victoria Baker Cover photography Art Andrew Biraj/Reuters (Rana Plaza, Bangladesh) Roberto “Galo” Arroyo Institute for Global Labour and Human Rights Heidi Broner (sleeping worker, China) Gil Corral Miriam Lara-Meloy (shoe factory, Indonesia) Regina Doyle Marco Longari/AFP/Getty Images Sandy Frank (garment worker, Africa) Shu Ping Guan R. B. Reed (wires) Jesse Hamm Andy Shapiro (thread) Haris Ichwan Richard Vogel/AP Photo (shoe worker, Vietnam) Lori Nadaskay Bobby Yip/Reuters (electronics worker, China) Mabel Negrete Joseph Younis (shoelaces) Chengyu Song Yoly Stroeve Ryan Sweere For their kind permission, we thank Kathleen Tandy the Solidarity Center and Christine Wong the International Labour Organization Kevin Wood for the use of their illustrations. Mary Ann Zapalac Workers’ Guide to Health and Safety 2015 Field testing Comisión de Verificación de Códigos de Conducta – COVERCO Australia: STITCH Oxfam – Australia UNSITRAGUA Bangladesh: Honduras: Karmojibiu Nari – KN Centro de Derechos de Mujeres – CDM Nari Uddug Kendra – NUK Central General de Trabajadores – CGT Comunicación Comunitaria Chile: – COMUN Centro de Capacitación para la Mujer Equipo de Monitoreo Independiente de Trabajadora – CECAM Honduras – EMIH China: Equipo de Reflexión, Investigación y China Labor Support Network Comunicación – ERIC Chinese Working Women’s Network International Textile, Garment and – CWWN Leather Workers’ Federation Female Migrant Workers’ Training – ITGLWF Project Hong Kong: Guangzhou Occupational Health and Asia Monitor Resource Center – AMRC Occupational Rehabilitation Resource Hong Kong Workers’ Health Centre Center – HKWHC Institute of Contemporary Observation – ICO India: Initiatives for Social and Health Costa Rica: Advancement – ISHA Asociación Servicio Pro-Laboral People’s Training and Resource Center – ASEPROLA – PTRC Denmark: Self-Employed Women’s Association Misión Dinamarca/PRODECA – SEWA Dominican Republic: Indonesia: Centro de Investigación para la Acción Local Initiatives for OSH Network Femenina – CIPAF – LION Federación Dominicana de Social Information and Legal Guidance Trabajadores de Zonas Francas Foundation – Yayasan Sisbikum y Afines y Project Alta Gracia – SISBIKUM – FEDOTRAZONAS Kenya: El Salvador: Kenya Women Workers Organization Centro de Estudios y Apoyo Laboral – KEWWO – CEAL Korea: Movimiento de Mujeres Mélida Anaya Social Programme for Action and Montes – MAM Research in Korea – SPARK Ghana: Malaysia: Industrial and Commercial Workers Women’s Development Collective Union – ICU – WDC Guatemala: Mexico: Centro de Acción Legal en Derechos Alianza Fronteriza de Obreras – ALFO Humanos – CALDH Workers’ Guide to Health and Safety 2015 Workers’ Guide to Health and Safety 2015 Casa Amiga Kilusan Ng Manggagawang Centro de Apoyo al Trabajador – CAT Labor Education and Research Network Centro de Información para – LEARN Trabajadores, A.C. – CITTAC Resource Center for People’s Colectivo de Obreras Insumisas Development – RCPD Comité Fronterizo de Obreras – CFO Trade Union Congress of the Philippines La Mujer Obrera South Africa Servicio, Desarrollo y Paz, A.C. Community Health Global Network – SEDEPAC Industrial Health Resource Group SITEMEX – IHRG Namibia South African Clothing and Textile Labor Resource and Research Institute Workers Union – SACTWU – LaRRI Sri Lanka Nicaragua Free Trade Zone and General Services Movimiento de Mujeres Trabajadoras y Employee Union – FTZ & CSEU Desempleadas “Maria Elena Cuadra” United States – MEC ENLACE Pakistan Environmental Health Coalition – EHC Working Women Organization – WWO Garment Worker Center Madre Philippines Mujeres Unidas y Activas Institute for Occupational Health and Safety Development – IOHSAD Special thanks to the following individuals and organizations: Garrett Brown is the godfather of this project. It would never have been completed without his patient advice, tireless support, and relentless networking through the Maquiladora Health and Safety Solidarity Network. Tom Gassert gave generously of his time and expertise, as did Jeong-ok Kong and members of KILSH and SHARPS, and Ted Smith and Mandy Hawes of ICRT; we couldn’t have produced the electronics section without them. Rory O’Neill of Hazards Magazine was a constant fount of information, resources, and networking connections. Apo Leong, Sanjiv Pandita, Omana George, Sally Choi, and others at the Asia Monitor Resource Center have accompanied this book since its start and we are thankful for all their support throughout the years. Jagdish Patel, Noel Colina, Melody Kemp, and Darisman Man were among the many in the Asian Network for the Rights of Occupational and Environmental Victims (ANROEV) who, alongside Julia Quiñones at the Comité Fronterizo de Obreras in Mexico, shared their experience and knowledge with us, reminding us often why we were developing this book. Lynda Yanz, Ana Enriquez, and Kevin Thomas of the Canadian Maquila Solidarity Network provided essential connections and resources. Providing help in a myriad of ways from popular education techniques to hazard mitigation, we appreciate Suzanne Teran, Betty Szudy, Laura Stock, Diane Bush, Valeria Velazquez, Robin Dewey, and others at UC Berkeley’s Labor and Occupational Health Program, Katie Quan of UC Berkeley’s Labor Center, and Linda Delp, Deogracia Cornelio, Sarah Jacobs and others at UCLA’s Labor and Occupational Safety and Health program. Finally, our coworkers at Hesperian, past and present, provided personal and collective support to this project through its many iterations, and to them we give our heartfelt thanks. Workers’ Guide to Health and Safety 2015 Workers’ Guide to Health and Safety 2015 A million thanks for their assistance to: Suvechha Adhikari Ka Wai Chan Bartolo Fuentes Sarah Adler-Milstein Amber Channer Homero Fuentes Lupita Aguila Mirai Chatterjee Sugio Furuya Nasimul Ahsan Esther Chavez Cano Simmi Gandhi Babul Akhter Helen Chen Gilberto García Shirin Akhter Debby Cheng Yi Yi Irene Garza Kalpona Akter Maria Chin Abdullah Leslie Gates Donald Aleman Suetwah Choi Olimpia Gatica Nelly Amaya Edwin Christiawan Pilar Gonzalez Karen Andrews Soon-ok Chun Gino Govender Evangelina Argueta Suki Chung Jay Govender Nina Ascoly Kirsten Clodius Ariane Grau Crespo Syed Asif Stephen Coats Elizabeth Grossman Nasir Ateeq Niza Concepcion Rubenia Guadalupe Jeff Ballinger Floridalma Contreras Marina Gutierrez Jordan Barab Dick Crosbie Catalina Guzmán Jorge Barajas Andrew Cutz Catherine Muthoni Sherry Baron Melona Daclan David Harrington Irene Barrientos Glorene Das Robert Harrison Enrique Barrios Enrique Davalos Katja Hemmerich Dinorah Barton-Antonio Caoimhe de Barra Nick Henwood Nikki Bas Cindy de Erazo Jeff Hermanson Lucrecia Bautista Leonardo de Leon Eugenia Hernández Mary Bellman Carmen Manuela Del Cid Ricardo Hernández María de la Paz Benavides Nelly Del Cid Rodrigo Hernández Hernández Abdulhalim Demir Ygnacio Hernández Blanca Blanco Kelly Dent Josefina Hernández Ponce Megan Bobier Blanca Velázquez Díaz Hannah