Compendium of good practices from India, Nepal and Sri Lanka

Building a safe and healthy working environment in South Asian plantations

This compendium highlights the key practices from project interventions, offering practical guidance for improving workplace conditions in plantations. It serves as a valuable resource for governments, employers, and workers, and a model for replicating these achievements in other sectors and regions.

The plantation sector is vital to South Asia’s economies, with countries like India, Nepal, and Sri Lanka as key exporters of crops such as tea, coconut, and rubber. Despite its importance, the sector faces hazardous working conditions, including exposure to agrochemicals, dangerous machinery, and limited OSH protections. These risks are worsened by insufficient training, lack of awareness of workers' rights, and additional vulnerabilities for women. Climate change, with extreme heat and erratic rainfall, also threatens workers' health.

In response to these challenges, the ILO implemented the Safety + Health for All Plantation Workers in South Asia project, funded by the Government of Japan under its Global Flagship Programme.

This compendium highlights the good practices identified throughout the project, offering practical guidance for governments, employers, and workers to enhance workplace conditions in the sector. It also serves as a model for replicating these improvements in other regions and industries, contributing to safer and healthier working environments globally.