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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: Manual material handling (MMH) is unavoidable because of the nature of jobs or tasks as and man-machine interfaces in a construction worksystem. Data were collected from six strata of workers viz., masons, mason helpers, carpenters, welders, gas cutters and ground-level helpers (259 out of 700 workers) from a construction site of a steel plant located in India to analyze different types of occupational risk factors, such as awkward posture, repetitive movements and others associated with MMH activities to assess their impact on musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs). It is essential that these risk factors are required to be under control through application…of ergonomics-based design approaches for construction worksystem. In this context, multinomial logistic regression analyses were used to identify the significant risk factors among the workers. The results shows that masons, mason helpers, carpenters, welders/gas cutters and ground-level helpers are greatly affected by static body posture, type of tools used, excessive stress due to repetition, awkward postures and extreme climate, respectively. Appropriate preventive and corrective measures are suggested for minimization of risks associated with such jobs/tasks to improve health and performance of the workers.
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Keywords: manual material handling, musculoskeletal disorders, sustainable change, man-machine interface
DOI: 10.3233/WOR-2012-0679-3788
Citation: Work,
vol. 41, no. Supplement 1, pp. 3788-3794, 2012
Abstract: Despite worldwide attention, musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) remain a substantial concern at work. To support ergonomists to assess the work-related risk factors for MSDs, several instruments are available. Unfortunately, many of these instruments are not supported by evidence-based exposure criteria for particular MSDs. For effective prevention of MSDs, it is important to know to what extent work-related risk factors are present in the work situation. The Netherlands Center for Occupational Diseases (NCOD) develops evidence-based criteria documents for the assessment of work-related MSDs. The exposure criteria of these documents can be used on a group level to support ergonomists in their assessment…of the physical job demands that are associated with workrelated MSDs. At the moment the NCOD has exposure criteria for the assessment of 22 work-related MSDs, for instance on the work-relatedness of upper extremity disorders, non-specific low back pain or patellar tendinopathy. The use of these exposure criteria enables ergonomist to better assess the work-related risks of MSDs as a starting point for effective prevention.
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Keywords: Prevention, Occupational disease, Threshold limit, Low back pain, Osteoarthritis
DOI: 10.3233/WOR-2012-0001-3795
Citation: Work,
vol. 41, no. Supplement 1, pp. 3795-3797, 2012
Abstract: This article proposes a system of indicators to evaluate the performance of companies in ergonomics for buildings. The system was developed based primarily on studies related to the performance evaluation of the construction industry and on Brazilian standards of ergonomics and work safety and had also the contribution of national and international indicators related to ergonomics, work safety, quality, sustainability, quality of work life and to organizational behavior. The indicators were named, classified and their components were assigned to compose the theoretical model SIDECE – System of Performance Indicators in Ergonomics for Building Construction (as for the Portuguese acronym), serving…the major goals of ergonomics: health, safety and workers’ satisfaction and production efficiency. The SIDECE is being validated along with the building construction companies in the city of Natal, Brazil, whose practical results, deriving from the application of instruments to collect field data, are under process, to be presented on the occasion of the 18th World Congress on Ergonomics. It is intended that the SIDECE be used by building construction companies as a support tool for excellence management.
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Keywords: Ergonomics, Indicators, Performance, Building construction, SIDECE
DOI: 10.3233/WOR-2012-0680-3798
Citation: Work,
vol. 41, no. Supplement 1, pp. 3798-3805, 2012
Abstract: Falls from heights are a leading cause of morbidity and mortality among construction workers, especially inexperienced workers and those performing residential construction. This research reports changes in fall prevention behaviors following revision of fall prevention training in a union-based carpenters’ apprenticeship program. We used a comprehensive needs assessment to identify gaps in apprentice carpenters’ preparation to work at heights, used these results to guide a schoolbased fall prevention curriculum to fill these gaps, and measured the effects of the revised curriculum on knowledge, beliefs, and fall prevention behaviors.
Keywords: construction safety, intervention study, fall prevention, safety training
DOI: 10.3233/WOR-2012-0681-3806
Citation: Work,
vol. 41, no. Supplement 1, pp. 3806-3808, 2012
Abstract: Research in the field of Ergonomics of the Built Environment has been developed with a view to consolidating studies in this area, the objective of which is to provide evidence that the joint participation of users and designers on drawing up projects is important. In this context, the theme of this study is to investigate the interactions between users and the environment in a university library. To do so, well-established techniques from Ergonomics, Architecture and Environmental Psychology were used to make a functional and behavioral evaluation to identify the level of user satisfaction in six libraries in the various study…centers of the Federal University of Pernambuco in Recife, northeast Brazil, so as to identify the strengths and also weaknesses in these spatial structures.
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Keywords: environmental ergonomics, ergonomics in libraries, university libraries
DOI: 10.3233/WOR-2012-0682-3809
Citation: Work,
vol. 41, no. Supplement 1, pp. 3809-3815, 2012
Abstract: Multiple claims and some empirical findings suggest that ‘green’ buildings should be healthier (psychologically and physically) and promote greater productivity than conventional buildings. The empirical evidence in this regard over the last decade or so has been inconclusive suggesting either that the studies are flawed or that there are specific aspects of green buildings that promote wellbeing and productivity and others that do not. This study looks at a longitudinal comparison of two groups; a group that moved into South Africa’s first GreenStar-accredited building and a group that did not. Measures were taken before the move and six months later.…Results demonstrated that the ‘green’ building did not produce significantly better physical or psychological wellbeing, or higher perceived productivity. These results are discussed in relation to suggestions for what design features to focus on that may produce significant results.
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Abstract: The construction industry continues to experience high rates of musculoskeletal injuries despite the widespread promotion of ergonomic solutions. Participatory ergonomics (PE) has been suggested as one approach to engage workers and employers for reducing physical exposures from work tasks but a systematic review of participatory ergonomics programs showed inconclusive results.. A process evaluation is used to monitor and document the implementation of a program and can aid in understanding the relationship between the program elements and the program outcomes. The purpose of this project is to describe a proposed process evaluation for use in a participatory ergonomic training program in…construction workers and to evaluate its utility in a demonstration project among floor layers.
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Keywords: musculoskeletal disorders, implementation strategy, work measurement
DOI: 10.3233/WOR-2012-0684-3824
Citation: Work,
vol. 41, no. Supplement 1, pp. 3824-3826, 2012
Abstract: As has happened in many other countries, Brazil has also witnessed an evident change in the question of accessibility over the last twenty years. In line with this theme, that of old age has only become evident in the last two decades. For a long period of time, the elderly have been systematically ignored as an object of investigation and have not been contemplated with consistent public social policies. Therefore, the main objective of this research is to verify the conditions of physical accessibility that allow the elderly to use public spaces, taking as a study case the São Gonçalo…square and the Solón de Lucena Park, in the city of João Pessoa – PB, identifying the biological and functional losses suffered by elderly people due to the aging process and verifying the specific physical needs of this segment of the population. Qualitative methods were adopted, such as systematic observations with the production of behaviour maps, in addition to a review of the literature and analysis of the data. The research identified problems related to the physical accessibility of the elderly to public spaces that generate difficulties for displacement, use, information and orientation, contributing to the planning and ergonomic guidelines which aim at improving these environments, such as the use of different and contrasting colours on the urban furniture and floor, for example.
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Keywords: accessibility, the elderly, public spaces
DOI: 10.3233/WOR-2012-0685-3827
Citation: Work,
vol. 41, no. Supplement 1, pp. 3827-3833, 2012
Abstract: The relevant research is questioning the essence of the existence of an adequate internal circulation to human dimensions. The research was based on the method of anthropometric assessment of internal circulation de Barros (2009), which was applied in three different sizes of apartments in the city of Caruaru-PE. These apartments were evaluated through the floor plans and furniture layouts, suggested by the builders, with the use of anthropometric models in simulation of movement. The study found that traffic problems are not just a consequence of small rooms, but projects that do not bother to match the anthropometric measurements to the…space environment.
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Abstract: The present work demonstrates, through a case study, the importance of theoretical knowledge in practical application of spatial accessibility in order to guarantee equal conditions for all people in the movement and use of space. Initially there was a literature review on the accessibility of space and how design in a accessible way. Next, we show one makeover proposal in one public school that wants to provide access to people with disabilities. This makeover was done and so we could evaluate the buildings changes through the method of accompanied walk with two people. Finally we present the main results and…discussions.
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Keywords: spatial accessibility, accessible design, accompanied walk, people with disabilities, school
DOI: 10.3233/WOR-2012-0687-3840
Citation: Work,
vol. 41, no. Supplement 1, pp. 3840-3846, 2012
