title: Human ergology that promotes participatory approach to improving safety, health and working conditions at grassroots workplaces: achievements and actions.
abstract: Participatory approaches are increasingly applied to improve safety, health and working conditions of grassroots workplaces in Asia. The core concepts and methods in human ergology research such as promoting real work life studies, relying on positive efforts of local people (daily life-technology), promoting active participation of local people to identify practical solutions, and learning from local human networks to reach grassroots workplaces, have provided useful viewpoints to devise such participatory training programmes. This study was aimed to study and analyze how human ergology approaches were applied in the actual development and application of three typical participatory training programmes: WISH (Work Improvement for Safe Home) with home workers in Cambodia, WISCON (Work Improvement in Small Construction Sites) with construction workers in Thailand, and WARM (Work Adjustment for Recycling and Managing Waste) with waste collectors in Fiji. The results revealed that all the three programmes, in the course of their developments, commonly applied direct observation methods of the work of target workers before devising the training programmes, learned from existing local good examples and efforts, and emphasized local human networks for cooperation. These methods and approaches were repeatedly applied in grassroots workplaces by taking advantage of their the sustainability and impacts. It was concluded that human ergology approaches largely contributed to the developments and expansion of participatory training programmes and could continue to support the self-help initiatives of local people for promoting human-centred work.
authors: ILO Decent Work Technical Support Team for East Asia, South East Asia and the Pacific, United Nations Building, Rajadammern Nok Avenue, Bangkok 10200, Thailand. kawakami@ilo.org
authors: Tsuyoshi
authors: T
authors: Kawakami
mesh_terms: D002160:Cambodia; D055812:Community-Based Participatory Research / Q000458:organization & administration*; D003906:Developing Countries; D004651:Employment; D006804:Ergonomics; D006293:Health Promotion / Q000458:organization & administration*; D006801:Humans; D007318:Inservice Training / Q000458:organization & administration; D009784:Occupational Diseases / Q000517:prevention & control*; D016272:Occupational Health; D060051:Occupational Injuries / Q000517:prevention & control*; D017132:Workplace / Q000458:organization & administration*