OH&S with the Lao Federation of Trade Unions (LFTU)

While the Lao People’s Democratic Republic (Lao PDR) is primarily an agricultural society, there are extensive mining and logging industries and more recently, work has begun on a number of World Bank and Asian Development Bank financed dams across tributaries of the Mekong river which will provide electricity for sale to neighboring Thailand. Union Aid Abroad – APHEDA works with the Lao Federation of Trade Unions (LFTU), with the support of international trade union networks as well as Australian trade unions and unionists to build national OH&S capacity. Laos has one of the highest occupational death rates in Asia with 28.8 fatalities per 100,000 people, around nine times higher than Australia. Combined with high levels of under-reporting, non-fatal but crippling occupational injuries and the lack of a social safety net the risk to workers is very high. Together, the LFTU and APHEDA are taking concrete actions to protect workers.

An LFTU trainer interviews a worker at a wood factory

Background

In 2004, Union Aid Abroad - APHEDA began a pilot project on HIV/AIDS and OH&S (Occupational Health and Safety) with the LFTU. This initial OH&S project helped train a team of national trainers in OH&S including in workplace hazard identification and risk assessment and control techniques. The initial HIV/AIDS project extended support UNICEF had been giving the LFTU on HIV/AIDS training for factory workers in border locations with Thailand and upgraded trainer skills. Technical support for these projects was sourced from the OH& Institute in Bangkok, the National Institute for Labour Protection in Hanoi, the International Labour Organisation and Australian technical specialists.

In 2006 a new project began with the LFTU, building on these first capacity building projects. The new project was jointly supported by the International Labour Organisation and Building and Wood Worker's International (BWI) with assistance from SASK, the Trade Union Solidarity Centre of the Finnish trade union movement. The LFTU had recognised it needed to do more to support its 113,000 members, including modernising standards in industries with high OH&S risks especially as Laos embraced a more market based economy

Occupational Health and Safety

Due to the success of the pilot project, APHEDA and the LFTU, with the ongoing support of BWI, have since trained thousands of workers, focusing primarily on the wood processing and construction industries, in which many workers are killed or injured each year. The project currently works in ten provinces throughout Laos.

The project continues to train a core group of OH&S experts at the LFTU's central level. These trainers then work with APHEDA and regional experts to train their provincial counterparts. After the initial training of trainers, (ToT) the provincial teams are then supported by APHEDA and the central LFTU to conduct mobile OH&S training courses at workplace workshops.

Due to the emerging industrialisation of Laos and the relatively new idea of OH&S, there are very few statistics and figures on OH&S. This is an issue because it does not give the trade union, the government, employees or employers an accurate picture of the state of workplaces in Lao PDR. To combat this, a central part of APHEDA's project is to conduct surveys with managers and workers in the workplace to develop a database of knowledge about OH&S incidents in Laos. This knowledge can then be used for advocacy and campaigns to improve OH&S conditions.

HIV/AIDS Awareness Raising

International Solidarity and Support

© Union Aid Abroad - APHEDA 2003.

Last Modified: Tuesday, 12-Jan-2010 11:06:11 EST
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