Purchase individual online access for 1 year to this journal.
Price: EUR 250.00
ISSN 1051-9815 (P)
ISSN 1875-9270 (E)
Impact Factor 2024: 1.7
WORK: A Journal of Prevention, Assessment & Rehabilitation is an interdisciplinary, international journal which publishes high quality peer-reviewed manuscripts covering the entire scope of the occupation of work. The journal's subtitle has been deliberately laid out: The first goal is the prevention of illness, injury, and disability. When this goal is not achievable, the attention focuses on assessment to design client-centered intervention, rehabilitation, treatment, or controls that use scientific evidence to support best practice.
WORK occasionally publishes thematic issues, but in general, issues cover a wide range of topics such as ergonomic considerations with children, youth and students, the challenges facing an aging workforce, workplace violence, injury management, performing artists, ergonomic product evaluations, and the awareness of the political, cultural, and environmental determinants of health related to work.
Dr. Karen Jacobs, the founding editor, and her editorial board especially encourage the publication of research studies, clinical practice, case study reports, as well as personal narratives and critical reflections of lived work experiences (autoethnographic/autobiographic scholarship),
Sounding Board commentaries and
Speaking of Research articles which provide the foundation for better understanding research to facilitate knowledge dissemination.
Narrative Reflections on Occupational Transitions, a new column, is for persons who have successfully transitioned into, between, or out of occupations to tell their stories in a narrative form. With an internationally renowned editorial board,
WORK maintains high standards in the evaluation and publication of manuscripts. All manuscripts are reviewed expeditiously and published in a timely manner.
WORK prides itself on being an author-friendly journal.
WORK celebrates its 25th anniversary in 2015.
*WORK is affiliated with the Canadian Association of Occupational Therapists (CAOT)* *WORK is endorsed by the International Ergonomics Association (IEA)* *WORK gives out the yearly Cheryl Bennett Best Paper Award*
Abstract: Abstract Associations between self-reported needs for aesthetic and ergonomic improvements were studied to analyse a possible impact of aesthetic needs on job performance as compared to ergonomic needs in 11 occupational groups. Employees at Swedish broadcasting company were invited to participate in a cross sectional study. 74% (n=1961/2641) fulfilled the inclusion criteria. Demographic data from company files and a pre-validated questionnaire were used. ‘High rank’ and ‘low rank’ aesthetic and ergonomic needs were compared. The perceived needs for aesthetic and ergonomic improvements showed significantly different distributions (p<0.001). Aesthetic needs were more frequently reported. No gender related differences were observed. Differences…between occupational groups were shown (p=0.006, 0.003).‘High rank’ needs for aesthetic and ergonomic improvements were similarly associated to psychological demands, stress, pain and age. 16/24 factors showed significant differences between ‘high and low rank’ aesthetic needs, whereas 21/24 between ergonomic needs. Sick leave was stronger related to ergonomics. The study results show a relation between not only work place ergonomics but also work place aesthetics to health and well-being. Future work health promotion and prevention may benefit from the inclusion of workplace aesthetics.
Show more
Keywords: Aesthetics, ergonomics, work environment, musculoskeletal pain, low back pain, occupational health, stress, sickleave
DOI: 10.3233/WOR-2012-0334-1430
Citation: Work,
vol. 41, no. Supplement 1, pp. 1430-1440, 2012
Abstract: This paper concerns an applied research aimed at applying the concept of usability, as derived form the standard ISO 9241/11, in the filed of building design, namely primary schools. Starting from the concept that space characteristics play a very relevant role in learning performances, the study presented here developed an original methodology for the assessment of effectiveness, efficiency and satisfaction of buildings hosting primary schools, in order to create a school environment better supporting users in their tasks. Research core is the framework of usability requirements and their related markers, indicators and technical specification that has been formulated in order…to check compliance of urban area, building, rooms and architectural details with users needs. Therefore, a detailed task analysis of pupils and teacher tasks has been carried out and two questionnaires addressed to a significant users panel have been formulated for satisfaction survey. Lastly, a matrix for an overall reading of gathered data has been set-up and criteria for usability assessment based on that data has been defined. The whole study has been developed within the case study of a primary school in the Naples city centre, whose contents and results are discussed.
Show more
Abstract: Representative systematic evaluation studies of the workspace and the extent to which that space is suitable for performing tasks have been developed by professionals engaged on finding evidence as to the importance of users and designers being joint participants in drawing up projects. In this context, this paper sets out to evaluate the environment of a control room in the hydroelectric sector, based on a multidisciplinary method which integrates ergonomics, architecture and environmental psychology so as to assess the influence of space on the user, and thus to identify the user's level of satisfaction with it. It was observed that…some adaptation strategies of the space for activities were not implemented satisfactorily, resulting in the need for further studies on making workspaces suitable.
Show more
Keywords: control room, environmental ergonomics, constellation of attributes
DOI: 10.3233/WOR-2012-0336-1449
Citation: Work,
vol. 41, no. Supplement 1, pp. 1449-1456, 2012
Abstract: Based on semi-structured interviews answered by professionals in Architecture and Interior Design areas, this research aimed to investigate, how these professionals develop their projects. Considering a real situation, the research tried to find out how these professionals consider users necessities and opinions. It was also verified which attributes are considered most relevant and how these professionals correlate them to uses demands about ergonomic aspects and intrinsic characteristics of each project. The paper is concluded presenting a list of attributes that were identified as the most important when developing a design for a home kitchen (as example), and some considerations about…this topic are also presented.
Show more
Keywords: ergonomics in build environment, ergodesign, design attributes, semi-structured interview
DOI: 10.3233/WOR-2012-0337-1457
Citation: Work,
vol. 41, no. Supplement 1, pp. 1457-1460, 2012
Abstract: This paper presents a method to develop objective discomfort evaluation indicators for a task oriented motion using the concept of less constrained movement. The basic idea is to compare imposed and less constrained movements in order to identify relevant biomechanical parameters for defining objective discomfort indicators. The task of automotive pedal clutching was chosen for illustrating the proposed method. Based on discomfort questionnaire and motion analysis of the experimental data, four discomfort indicators were proposed. Two of them were based on the ankle joint angle around flexion/extension axis at the beginning and the end of the clutch pedal depression. The…third one was defined using knee flexion/extension joint torque at the end of the clutch pedal depression. The last indicator was defined as the relative lateral position of the heel compared to the average pedal lateral position for less constrained configurations. A global discomfort function was also defined as a weighted sum of all indicators. Globally, the proposed global discomfort indicator succeeded in differentiating the tested configurations in agreement with experimental observation. As expected, less discomfort rating is obtained for less constrained movement when compared with the corresponding imposed one.
Show more
Abstract: Seats need to be more lightweight for airplanes, cars, busses and even trains to contribute to a better environment and to reduce energy consumption. However, a reduction in comfort due to weight reduction is not preferable, which opens a new area of research: improving comfort with a minimum of material or with lightweight materials and systems. In this paper three experiments are performed to test the effects of light weight seats and parts of a seat on comfort. The first experiment shows that a new developed light weight massage system improves comfort and reduces muscle activity. The second experiment shows…that the automatic seat adjustment without motors improves the comfort as well. The third experiment showed that a light weight seat following closely the human body contour is experienced on many aspects in the same way as current more heavy seats. More research and models will be needed in this ergonomic field which needs more attention.
Show more
Keywords: seat, comfort, sustainability, light weight, end user experience
DOI: 10.3233/WOR-2012-0339-1466
Citation: Work,
vol. 41, no. Supplement 1, pp. 1466-1470, 2012
Abstract: We constructed an innovative experimental platform to study cross-situational consistency in driving behavior, conducted behavioral experiments, and reported the data obtained in the experiment. To discuss cross-situational consistency, we separated situations in which people use some systems to conduct tasks into three independent conceptual factors: environment, context, and system. We report the experimental results with the following systems: a laboratory system with a gaming controller and steering/pedal controllers and a real system, COMS an instrumented vehicle. The results are summarized as follows. 1) The individual behaviors in each system were stable, and consistency was retained. 2) The consistency of the…behaviors was also confirmed when the participants drove using different interfaces in identical systems. 3) However, only slight correlation was observed across different systems in a specific situation where a strong high-order cognitive constraint (i.e., rapid driving) and a weak low-order cognitive constraint (driving with easy handling toward a straight-line course) were given.
Show more
Abstract: One of the applications of ergonomics disciplinary is designing driver workstation compatible to users’ characteristics. The aim of this study was evaluation of interior design of Shoka vehicle with respect to the accommodation for Iranian population and proposing suggestions for customizing design of this vehicle. This study was a descriptive-analytical study conducted among thirty men from Iranian drivers population in 5, 50, 95 percentiles of the stature variable. Objective variables related to the occupant packaging and vehicle visual aspects including anthropometric variables, frontal, lateral, and side view and so on were investigated first. Then, subjective variables related to the driver…mental workload and body comfort discomfort were studied using BMDMW and comfort questionnaires during 2-hour driving trial sessions. Occupant packaging variables and hand-arm angle showed the least accommodation percent (%53). Seating angles showed low accommodation as well (%73). Among three percentile groups there were no significant differences between the mean values of mental workload during two hours driving task. And, the mean value related to the comfort discomfort was 3.9 during driving sessions. Considering the findings in this study, it can be conclude that seating angles need correction and optimization. Taking mental workload results into account, it can be concluded that the interior design of the studied car had no influence on drivers’ mental workload. From the aspect of comfort discomfort, Shoka vehicle showed neutral state among drivers. Optimizing seating angles, decreasing vibration, correcting stiffness of seating pan are suggested for customization of the ergonomics aspect of this vehicle.
Show more
Abstract: The task of handling reach trucks frequently involves poor working postures. The location of the steering wheel in most reach trucks is in front of the operator which requires the drivers to bend forward and stretch their hands for holding onto the steering wheel. To overcome visibility restrictions, this posture is aggravated by twisting and bending their torso sideways. This paper presents a usability study which was conducted to compare adoption of ergonomic features in a new reach truck cabin with the way they were intended to be employed for improving physical working conditions. Participants drove the reach truck on…a test track performing tasks of varying complexity. Video recordings were utilized to facilitate the observations. The results indicate that improved ergonomics features of the reach truck are not used as intended. The test subjects instead adopted postures that they were accustomed to when driving common reach trucks. The possible contributing factors to this posture regression are discussed. The procedure used in this study is recommended for the companies to determine the effectiveness and adoption of ergonomics solutions.
Show more
DOI: 10.3233/WOR-2012-0342-1486
Citation: Work,
vol. 41, no. Supplement 1, pp. 1486-1492, 2012
Abstract: The changes in society at the beginning of this millennium are giving rise to deep transformations in the behavioural trends and tastes of home users, as well as in their lifestyles and consumption patterns. This opens up a wide range of opportunities for innovation within the context of contemporary home design. Due to the emergence of new user profiles, new needs and models are coming to the attention of designers and manufacturing companies. Just think about the new needs resulting from the changing composition of households, new forms of cohabitation and the contemporary multi-ethnic society.
Keywords: Ergonomics, User Innovation, Design, Sustainability
DOI: 10.3233/WOR-2012-0343-1493
Citation: Work,
vol. 41, no. Supplement 1, pp. 1493-1500, 2012
