The opening speakers were:

• Mr Suwat, Deputy Director of the Department of Labour Protection and Welfare, MOLSW

• Mr Heikki Tuunanen, Ambassador of Finland in Bangkok
• Ms Nelien Haspels, Senior Gender Specialist, ILO-EASMAT

Ms. Suthinee, Director of the Office of Homeworkers (OHW), Master of Ceremony, introduced the first guest speaker, Mr. Suwat, the Deputy-Director General of the Department of Labour Protection and Welfare (DLPW). Mr Suwat stressed the importance of improving occupational safety and health (OSH) among home-based workers. He mentioned that the forthcoming 9^th national development plan will aim at extending OSH to informal sector, agricultural and home-based workers. Last year, a pilot training course on OSH of home-based workers was carried out using WISE methods. The result was satisfactory. DLPW needs to cooperate with all concerned agencies such as the Ministry of Public Health (MOPH), the Ministry of Industry, NGOs and workers’ and employers’ organizations to improve OSH of home-based workers. The seminar today was a good sign of such strong cooperation.

Mr. Tuunanen, the Finnish Ambassador, expressed his appreciation to the organizers for conducting the seminar. The Government of Finland supported many OSH project activities in Asia, Latin America and African countries through bi-lateral and international channels in cooperation with the ILO and other agencies. OSH was a high priority in technical cooperation, because higher productivity of workers could be achieved through OSH improvement. Workers, employers and their organizations would benefit from OSH activities. The Government of Finland focused also on eradicating poverty and promoting human right issues of vulnerable groups. Home-based workers needed to work together in groups and not individually. Supporting efforts of governmental agencies such as MOLSW, MOPH and HomeNet Thailand were important. He hoped that the seminar today would produce practical plan of action.

On behalf of the ILO, Ms. Haspels welcomed all participants and introduced the ILO’s Decent Work agenda which focused on promoting rights at work, sufficient income and jobs, a safe and healthy work environment, extension of social security, and dialogue, organization and representation of all men and workers. Informal sector workers were vulnerable because of lack of labour protection, such as hazardous working conditions. The ILO Home Work Convention provided a framework to protect this group of workers. The Government of Thailand had been active in promoting OSH of home-based workers and had established the Office of Home-based workers in MOLSW. OSH issues were a pressuring concern of home-based workers. The ILO appreciated the efforts of the Thai Government and NGOs. It was important for homeworkers to express their own needs and participate in a dialogue with the Government for improving national policies and implementation mechanisms on safe work.