To date, most of the intervention research around exposure reduction has
focused on education. Work Improvement in Neighborhood Development
(WIND) was a participatory occupational safety and health (OSH) program
for agricultural workers, initiated in Vietnam and expanded to other countries,
including Thailand, by the International Labor Organization.34 The WIND
training program for agricultural workers is composed of five topics: (1) material
storage and handling; (2) work posture, work station design, and ergonomic
equipment for work; (3) machine safety; (4) work environment and chemical
hazard control; and (5) hygiene and work organization. In addition, many trainers
cover other topics such as social security and OSH regulations, and the
reduction/recycling of materials to reduce global warming. The WIND participatory
training program uses a community workshop approach that starts with
learning from local examples of good safety and health practice, working in a
group to develop locally feasible actions, agreeing on the changes to be implemented,
and developing steps for follow-up.35 Implementation of the WIND
program in Chainat province resulted in several improvements including construction
of resting areas, plans for toilets in the fields, increased understanding
of the health hazards of agricultural chemicals, and increased use of PPE. The
participants also began making organic fertilizer and developed an organic antisnail
pesticide.36 To date, the WIND program has been implemented only on a
voluntary basis by local PCUs (village clinics) where special funding has been
received from the district administration, and no published reports have been
generated from these efforts.