Occupational and Environmental Health and Safety (OEHS) is a fundamental right — a basic human right that protects the right to life, to health, and to work in dignity. Yet across Asia, millions of workers still face daily exposure to hazardous conditions and precarious jobs that put their lives and communities at risk.

These dire and unsafe conditions push workers to organize, to defend their right to health and safety in their workplaces and communities. They are turning OEHS issues into powerful entry points and effective tools for collective action, union and victims’ groups building, and demands for justice and accountability.

In many countries, OEHS has served as both the spark and the cornerstone of campaigns to expose unsafe conditions in factories, demand compensation for occupational diseases, resist environmental contamination, or push for urgent OEHS-related legislative reforms. These experiences not only highlight OEHS as a crucial arena for organizing but also show that unionized workplaces and organized communities are safer.

By bringing together stories from across Asia, this e- book stands as a testament to workers’ collective strength and as a call to action for unions, OEHS rights victims, advocates and activists to center OEHS in the broader struggle for decent work, justice and accountability.

In this e-book, find narratives and essays from OEHS campaigns, union and occupational safety and health committee building experiences, victims’ groups organizing efforts, and collective struggles for OEHS rights and safer workplaces and communities, and access analysis and reflections from OEHS rights victims, labor leaders, OSH advocates, and grassroots organizers on lessons learned and strategies used.