The rapid growth and diversification of industry and economic activity in Thailand in recent years has helped the Kingdom make remarkable progress towards prosperity. However, this same growth has also presented Thailand with new challenges in a wide variety of fields, including, of course, occupational safety and health. The Government of Thailand has recognized the importance of occupational health and safety issues in its Eighth National Economic and Social Development Plan, making the reduction of preventable accidents a development target. It is hoped that this report may in some way contribute to the achievement of those objectives, and the overall goal of creating safer and better workplaces. Work on this report began in response to a request from the Government of Thailand for ILO advice on reviewing its occupational safety and health programme and structure. The report proposes that the Government and the social partners take a number of actions to promote occupational safety and health in Thailand. A draft report was presented at the National Tripartite Workshop on Occupational Safety and Health in Thailand held in Pattaya from 27 to 28 May 1999, and participants’ comments have been taken into account in this final version of the report.

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