To date, about 49 percent of the total employed Filipino population belongs to the informal sector.  Although a few informals can work within comfortable environments, most are not as fortunate.

ILS, in tandem with the Occupational Safety and Health Center, formed several research teams that studied and monitored workers and employers of four informal work groups – battery recycles of Navotas and Pasay; metal fabricators of Manila; sugarcane harvesters of Pura, Tarlac; and woodworkers of Betis, Guagua, Pampanga.

The case studies look into their work routines and the probable corresponding costs in their productivity, awareness on hazards at work, and coping mechanisms they use to mitigate productivity loss.