Work Hazards and Safety Organization in the Third World

Abstract

The research project on 'The Functioning of the Safety Organization in the Metal Industries in Malaysia' studies the prospects for as well as the restric tion, on the improvement of the working environment through activities at the enterprise level in a Third World industrializing country. This rather neglected aspect of the transfer of technology is analysed in a comparative perspective In contrast to the dominant perspective in Scandinavian research the Malaysian case will emphasize the interrelationship between trends in the socio-political setting on the national level, and the scope for health and safety activities at the enterprise level The four areas of analysis include: the formation ot the conceptual framework in the employees' understanding ot the working environment, the socio-political framework on the national level for labour-management relations, the social organization in the factory and the climate of cooperation between labour and management, and the access to resources of know-how on work hazards and preventive measures. During the current explorative phase ot the project the common notion of workers in Third World countries displaying a low level of consciousness about work hazards has been challenged.