The Asian Network on the Rights of Occupational and Environmental Victims (ANROEV) has expanded from Occupational, Health, and Safety (OHS) to Environmental, Health, and Safety (EHS) stream, with the first EHS meeting held in 2022 and the second in 2024. This specifically alternates with the ANROEV biennial meetings of 2021 and 2023, during and after COVID-19. The EHS stream is an important expansion. This regional handbook on grassroots monitoring and organizing for EHS is based on discussions and needs identified from those meetings.

Asia Monitor Resource Centre (AMRC) has supported the ANROEV network since its inception, contributing to grassroots institutional and individual staff capacity- building through various regional and national projects, including organizing, research, training, and advocacy campaigns. Through all our efforts, knowledge remains the primary focus, as the knowledge that centers and amplifies the voices of workers and communities drives social change.

Environmental health and safety lie at the crossroads of two contemporary problems for workers: on the one hand, environmental concerns for flora, fauna, and ecosystems; on the other, occupational health defined by the boundaries of the factory or production site. The goal at Asia Monitor Resource Center (AMRC) is to bring together the insights
of both to improve the long-term health of the workers
and the environment. It is by combining the strength of the community, past and present, that our strength lies. This manual will focus on grassroots empowerment through community-based monitoring and citizen science to challenge and enable a greater democratic voice.

It also aims to support ANROEV’s EHS work and answer questions such as “Why is EHS important?” and “How can we do the EHS monitoring?” The training manual discusses the concept of EHS in relation to OHS and explores ways to promote labour and environmental rights for/by ANROEV members. Each section is organized to gradually build knowledge, reinforcing the importance and relevance of this topic to our work.