Participants practicing first aid skills

Occupational Safety and Health

One step closer to safer and healthier workplaces through simple acts of care

In Viet Nam’s coffee heartland, farmers are stepping up not just to grow beans, but to grow a culture of care.

31 October 2025

Content also available in: tiếng Việt

BUON MA THUOT (ILO News) - “We all hope accidents never happen, but it’s better to be prepared,” shared Lam Dzy Long, a coffee farmer from Lam Dong, at the opening of a recent first aid training in Dak Lak, one of the main coffee producing provinces in Viet Nam’s Central Highlands. “It’s useful to know how to take care of them properly and stay calm if something more serious happens.”

That spirit of preparedness was at the heart of the event. Over one and a half days, thirty coffee farmers and agronomists from Dak Lak, Dak Nong, and Lam Dong gathered to learn basic first-aid techniques that can make a difference in everyday work and life. Delivered by the Red Cross Viet Nam under the ILO Vision Zero Fund - Nestlé partnership project, the course combined short theoretical sessions with hands-on practice. Guided by experienced trainers, participants learned how to stop bleeding, dress wounds, immobilize suspected fractures and move injured persons safely, all by using simple materials available on the farm. The training room buzzed with energy and cooperation as farmers applied new skills to realistic scenarios, many for the first time realizing how small, careful actions can prevent minor injuries from becoming worse.

“This training is very relevant and responds directly to the needs of our coffee farmers,” said Pham Phu Ngoc, Chief Company Representative in the Central Highlands Region, Nestlé Viet Nam, during his closing remarks. “We hope to continue expanding this type of training to other provinces in the Central Highlands to strengthen the workplace safety culture among our farmers and cooperatives.”

For participants, the course was a reminder that safety begins with awareness. Serious accidents are rare in coffee cultivation and processing, but minor incidents, small cuts, slips or falls, can still affect workers’ well-being and productivity. Learning how to react calmly and provide immediate assistance helped farmers feel more confident about protecting themselves and helping others when needed.

Even something as simple as bandaging a wound can be crucial in preventing serious infection. Participants had the chance to step into the role of a first responder, learning how small actions can make a big difference.

This sense of readiness reflects the broader goal of the ILO Vision Zero Fund – Nestlé partnership project, aiming to foster a culture of prevention that grows from awareness, collaboration and shared responsibility. By training farmers to identify and manage everyday occupational safety and health risks, the initiative contributes to safer, healthier and more resilient coffee supply chains.

This first-aid training also connects with a wider goal shared by the ILO and its partners, ensuring that everyone, wherever they work, have the right to do so in safety and dignity. In 2022, this right was formally recognized as one of the Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work (FPRW), reaffirming that occupational safety and health is a universal right, not a privilege. Working with government agencies, employers’ and workers’ organizations, the ILO supports ongoing efforts to strengthen safety and health across agricultural supply chains. Each local initiative, like this first aid training, adds to those broader efforts, small steps that together help build a culture of prevention and advance decent work for all.

And behind every effort are the people who make it real. For coffee farmers in the Central Highlands, the training offered not only useful knowledge but also reassurance, knowing they can stay calm and act safely when accidents occur. As one female participant said while practising how to bandage a hand, “It’s simple, but it can make a real difference. I hope what we learned here won’t stop in this classroom, and that the spirit of readiness and mutual care will keep growing, because with the right awareness and support, safer and healthier workplaces are within reach for everyone.”

Transporting an injured person in steep, remote areas is never easy. That’s why learning how to do it safely matters. With support from Red Cross Viet Nam, participants teamed up to practice real-life response skills.

Using simple tools found on the farm, like wooden sticks, participants practiced first aid techniques to help prevent injuries from getting worse while waiting for professional care.

As the training wrapped up, participants faced a final test of their first aid knowledge. Everyone gave it their all, focused and determined to earn their certification.

Participants came together to mark the end of their first aid journey, smiling with excitement as they gained new skills that could help not only themselves but also those around them.

***The Vision Zero Fund (VZF) project in Viet Nam supports improvements in occupational safety and health (OSH) and related social conditions in coffee-farming communities, with a focus on farm-level working conditions. Project activities promote safer and healthier work practices among coffee farmers and raise their awareness of labour rights and social protection, with the aim to reduce the risk of occupational injuries and diseases, improve farm workers’ access to their labour rights and social protection benefits, and promote formalization.