"Over the last 20 years, manufacturing of a wide variety of consumer goods in the global economy has shifted from relatively well-regulated, highwage and often unionized factories in the developed world to basically unregulated, low-wage and rarely unionized factories in the developing world. The prevailing supply chain approach for occupational health and safety (OHS) protections for workers is to incorporate them into the international brands' corporate social responsibility (CSR) programmes in the hope that there will be a “trickle-down” effect of corporate- level OHS protections to the factory floors of the brands' suppliers. This approach has resulted in only marginal improvements of working conditions in global supply chains. A different approach – exemplified by the work of the Maquiladora Health and Safety Support Network (MHSSN) – is a worker-centred approach where the goal is to create knowledgeable, informed and active workers in factories at all tiers of the global supply chains who are familiar with OHS concepts, hazards and controls, as well as their rights under the law. The article highlights case studies of OHS capacity-building activities by the MHSSN and partner organizations with workers in five countries: Mexico, Indonesia, China, the Dominican Republic and Bangladesh."

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