Participatory Research in Asia (PRIA)2025-12-241998https://knowledgedemocracydspace.com/handle/123456789/967This unit is about participatory research as a methodology for managing occupational health and safety, drawn from a training curriculum developed by PRIA. Conventional occupational health research has long treated workers as passive subjects, their symptoms recorded and checked against diagnostic machines and expert theory, with little role for workers in generating or owning the knowledge produced about their own conditions. Participatory research emerged as a challenge to this model, rooted partly in Paulo Freire's work on conscientisation, and rests on principles such as collective analysis, the fusion of knowing with acting, and a gradual shift of control over the research process toward those most affected by it. Worker participation in occupational health and safety is justified on several grounds, including improved social learning, productivity gains, and legal or rights-based claims to a voice in workplace decisions. Mechanisms discussed include safety committees, quality circles, and total quality management, alongside a step-by-step methodology for conducting participatory research, from identifying questions through survey design, data processing, diagnostic camps, and reporting. PRIA's own experience running diagnostic camps in Indian textile mills grounds much of this discussion, including a Mumbai worker who, in 1995, became among the first in the city to receive compensation for byssinosis identified through this process.enParticipatory ResearchSDG 3: Good Health and Well-beingIndiaOther