Commuting Safety
Between 2022 and 2026, the International Labour Organization’s (ILO) Vision Zero Fund and Nike Inc. joined forces to cut deaths and injuries among garment and footwear workers.
Sector
When
April 2022 – October 2026
Development Partners
NIKE inc.
Project Code
GLO/16/01/MUL
THE CHALLENGE
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), 1.3 million people die annually because of road traffic accidents, and between 20 and 50 million people suffer non-fatal injuries, with many incurring disabilities. The majority of those killed or injured belong to economically productive age groups (15-64 years), and accidents cause considerable economic loss to individuals, families, employers, and societies. In many countries, garment and footwear sector workers are disproportionately involved in road accidents.
Improving commuting safety in the garment sector requires the implementation of a collective action approach, in which all stakeholders work together to address the systemic issues that lie at the root of commuting accidents.
THE INITIATIVE
- Developed a Theory of Change that identifies the underlying causes to be addressed to reduce injuries and deaths from road accidents involving garment and footwear workers (see video below).
- Produced the “Collective Action for a Safe Commute: Action manual and checklist for employers and workers in the garment and footwear sector to enhance workers’ commuting safety,” piloted in Egypt and Ethiopia.
- Systematized the experience of the Cambodian Transportation Working Group, an initiative coordinated by Better Factories Cambodia that brought together brands and stakeholders to improve commuting safety for garment and footwear workers.
- Generated two country evidence-based assessments on commuting safety. The research process collected data from 3,000 factory managers, workers, and drivers from 10+ different factories in 5 locations across Egypt and Ethiopia.
- Developed the free, self-paced, online training course “Collective Action for a Safe Commute”.
- Delivered two master classes on commuting safety (you can access them here and here) and organized a webinar on good practices, and one on addressing common challenges from assessment to action. Please find the used presentation here.
- Implemented a “Commuting Safety Challenge”, supporting four garment factories in Cambodia and Vietnam to implement practical commuting safety measures. Good practices and lessons learned based on the implementation of initiatives by garment factories in were captured in this document and disseminated through this webinar.
Over 40,500 workers benefited from interventions including improved driver behaviour, upgraded infrastructure and road signalling, deployment of safety monitors to manage traffic flows, introduction of staggered shifts to reduce peak congestion, and strengthened data collection and use for risk identification and prevention.
