Documents Markkanen, Pia 4 results

"The 2005 International Labour Conference did not adopt the new proposed Convention on work in the fishing sector. As the whole Employers' Group and a considerable number of government delegates abstained from voting, the quorum was not reached. Workers are disappointed as the Convention aimed at covering more than 90% of the world's fish workers, both in the fields of social security and work environment. Employers described the proposed Convention as prescriptive, inflexible, and impractical for developing countries to ratify it. How much did the Tsunami 2004 influence the result? What kind of standard creation process would suit for the new, globalized world?"

"This article describes a collaborative project between the International Labour Organization's International Programme on the Elimination of Child Labour (IPEC) and the Lowell Center for Sustainable Production, in identifying work hazards of fishers along the east coast of North Sumatra, Indonesia, in July 2004. The study employed qualitative investigation techniques: participant observations at fishing villages and harbors; and interviews with local fishers and skippers. Fishers work long hours in life-threatening conditions, often with low pay. It would be synergistic to incorporate fishing safety and health policies and advocacy efforts into reconstruction undertakings of fisheries devastated by the 2004 tsunami. "

"Every day in the United States, 14 workers die on the job and millions of workers are seriously injured or sickened by doing their work. The harms to workers, the costs to our healthcare system, and the damages to communities are immense.
Yet many of these injuries and deaths could have been prevented by applying the lessons learned from our country's history of workplace health and safety. It is a history rich in powerful examples of regulations failing to protect workers as well as policies and practices that enable workers to be healthy and safe. These lessons can be used to create far more effective approaches that not only protect workers but also reduce the harms to society.
Going to work should not be a choice between feeding your family and protecting your health and safety.
To make these lessons clear and useful, the Lowell Center for Sustainable Production has produced Lessons Learned: Solutions for Workplace Safety and Health. The report's six case studies illustrate systemic failures to protect workers, communities, and the environment such as:
•Immigrant workers killed and severely burned in house fires caused by the chemicals used to refinish wood floors.
•Health care workers, hotel housekeepers, as well as meat and poultry workers disabled by back injuries and other musculoskeletal strain from long hours of awkward postures and repetitive movements.
•Long and avoidable delays in the scientific and legal proceedings used to set health standards protecting workers from cancer-causing chemicals.
We are proud that noted labor photojournalist Earl Dotter has allowed us to use his compelling photographs throughout the report. We are also grateful to the Public Welfare Foundation for supporting this project and the dozens of occupational health experts (too many to mention) that we consulted with as we selected and developed the individual case studies. "

"This study of working conditions in shoemaking in the informal sector in Indonesia and the Philippines, along with their gender dimensions and national and international policy implications, is based on the author's experience in both countries during 2002, with applied qualitative research techniques: in-depth interviews and worksite visits. The use of organic solvents makes shoemaking a particularly hazardous occupation. The book illustrates the global need for safe and healthy chemical alternatives and for their introduction at the beginning of use and supply chain applications. The study also presents the complexity of the problem when considering the introduction of safer alternatives at the source. While home-based shoemakers may influence certain aspects of their work environment, they seldom can undertake efficient preventive measures to mitigate chemical and dust exposures at the bottom of the production process. Homes have been converted into unsafe footwear-manufacturing units, with serious solvent and dust exposures and a spectrum of other hazards. All family members, adults and children, may work in home-based footwear production. Low-cost shoe production takes advantage of sex-segregated job tasks and minimal investments in working conditions.
Use of chemicals in shoemaking is just one example of how global markets have introduced chemicals, materials, and production processes into developing nations. Hazardous working conditions and inadequate health protection are the product of complex relationships among diverse "actors" or agents at international, national, community, and industry levels."