SAFETY AND HEALTH IN THE WORKPLACE is often the least among the priorities of both workers and owners of small enterprises. Workers resist the proper observance of safe work practices because these are perceived to cause inconvenience, while business owners believe that safety measures represents nothing but added costs.

The absence of adequate statistics to show losses in productivity in the small enterprise sector, and the general lack of awareness of occupational safety and health standards among owners and managers are also factors that hinder the proper appreciation of good working conditions in the sector.

It also does not help that few labor inspectors of the Department of Labor and Employment, approach the enforcement of labor standards in a rather adversarial manner, tend to get engrossed in wage violations over other standards, and because of resource constraints, give low priority to small enterprises as targets of inspection visits.

The Work Improvement in Small Enterprises (WISE) program was introduced in the Philippines from 1989 to 1993 in order to promote better working conditions for workers of small and medium enterprises (SMEs), while enhancing their productivity. The WISE program uses practical and low-cost methods and emphasizes the benefits of the preventive, more than the curative, approach. 

It was initially implemented in four regions in the Philippines, and is being considered for nationwide implementation as well as in other less protected sectors (e.g., the informal sector). Over a thousand enterprises have benefited from the WISE training courses, and these continue to be propagated by trainers and advocates.

The technical papers included in this Monograph try to capture the success and future of the WISE approach in the Philippines. They describe a strategy which attempts to balance the goals of promoting economic development by enhancing the competitiveness of SMEs, while remaining faithful to the principles of social justice for workers by improving the quality of their working life.

The authors would like to thank the Bureau of Working Conditions of the Department of Labor and Employment; the members of the Regional and National WISE Training Teams for their assistance in providing the necessary information; and Milagros Agas-Balmes, chief of the Workers’ Welfare Research Division of the Institute for Labor Studies, for undertaking the research.