Health, Safety and Environment - International Labour Organization

Manual 3:HEALTH, SAFETY & ENVIRONMENTFOR WORKER HS&E REPRESENTATIVESBody mapping:provides an easy and effective way to encourage workers to speak outand report symptoms of ill health that they sufferpromotes collective action and builds trade union organisationidentifies common patterns of health problems amongst workers in aparticular workplace or doing the same jobhighlights areas for further investigation and actionPhoto: courtesy of the Union of Shop, Distributive and Allied Workers, UK.How to body mapWhat you will needFront and back body outlines – youcan draw these yourselfA small body map for each member,or a larger body map for severalmembers to usePens (different coloured pens can behelpful) so that members can markany symptoms that they have on tothe body mapOrganising the session Get together with a group of your members who should usually be doingthe same or similar jobs. Explain what you are proposing to do, and stress that information fromindividuals is confidential. Ask them to place marks (X) on to the body map to show any symptomsof ill health that they or others have at their places of work. If you havedifferent colours, it may help to use different colours to identifydifferent symptoms. For example:X aches and pains – blueXXXbreathing difficulties, coughing – blackstress related disorders – greenany other problems such as skin rashes, runny eyes and nose,dizziness, reproductive disorders and so on – red82 Health, Safety and EnvironmentA Series of Trade Union EducationManuals for Agricultural Workers