The Asia-Pacific region has been rapidly developing into an industrial region. In particular, China has been rapidly changing for the past 10-15 years and now India is undergoing that same industrialization. AIAG member companies have been and continue to acquire operations, build facilities, or expand in the AP region. The challenge is to get staff in these new AP facilities to be able to develop and implement Health and Safety processes and programs consistent with best practices in the automotive community. In addition, most AIAG member companies in AP have partners and suppliers that may not fully understand the global Health and Safety programs employed. In China alone, it has been reported that greater than 100,000 people die each year in industrial accidents (MSNBC, January 2008).

The best solution is to provide Health and Safety training offered by the AIAG membership to member and non-member companies. The content will be designed to be basic and simple, yet designed to help them completely understand a topic, see the continuity between programs, and be able to use the materials to teach other Health and Safety staff and employees and contractors. The course content will be evaluated to ensure the most efficient learning for the country and/or region for which it is being conducted. The solution proposed is targeted for the AP region, but could be utilized in other developing countries.

Our objective is to provide a common baseline of information that establishes a common understanding of basic Health and Safety training for OEM's, key partners, Tier One's, and suppliers in the designated country.