The footwear industry in Indonesia is considered important as it is one of the largest contributors to employment and income for the country. Besides the formal manufacturers, the sector also comprises informal or home-based ones. More than 50% of this home-based footwear industry in Indonesia is located in Cibaduyut, Bandung. The main issues related to it are the lack of awareness of the risks embeded in the work environment, and the safety and ergonomics of the employees. Therefore, research was conducted to evaluate these aspects in order to ensure the future sustainability of the industry. Three questionnaires were employed for the study, the Participatory Action Training for the Informal Sector (PATRIS) questionnaire, the Nordic Safety Climate Questionnaire (NOSACQ-50) and the Employee Perceptions of Participatory Ergonomics Questionnaire (EPPEQ), in order to evaluate safety and ergonomic practice related to current activities, based on four representative shoe workshop samples. The ILO-PATRIS checklist shows that the four shoe workshops require improvements in both their facilities and working environments (p < 0.01). The NOSACQ-50 analysis shows that the safety climate levels of employees were 84% low and 16% moderate, while those of owners were 27% low and 73% moderate. This shows a significant difference between the safety climates of employees and owners (p < 0.05), with a strong relationship (r = 0.88). The ergonomic analysis of employee participation based on EPPEQ shows that all workers displayed acceptable levels. However, linear regression analysis shows that ergonomic activity has no significant relationship with facilities, work environment or work safety climate (p > 0.05). ILO-PATRIS complements NOSACQ-50 in measuring the safety climate of small and medium sized enterprises, especially home-based shoe workshops. Overall, the four shoe workshops need to improve their working environment, work facilities, safety climate and participatory ergonomics of the employees.