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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: This article discusses the development of a computerized support to demands for treatment of a wide spectrum and diverse nature. Developed under SPM platform (Situação, Problema e Melhoria), the practitioner seeks to provide an ergonomic aid from the identification and characterization of the processes of analysis demands. The interest of a technological support the practice of ergonomics is a domestic origin, which already features a wide universe. For purposes of this article will be drawn the line defined by the universe in the Federal Public Service occupations within the guidelines set Subsystem Integrated System for Health Care Workers of the…Federal Government. The development of this system initially intended to assist the practitioner in ergonomics mapping situations in which the federal public servant has been undergoing for the second time that can classify and then treat them.
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Abstract: This study was conducted in a nursery for eucalyptus seedling production in a forest Company, located in the southern state of Bahia, Brazil. It aimed to evaluate the ergonomic conditions of the preparation of cuttings and mini-cuttings with scissors for Eucalyptus seedling production to increase well-being, satisfaction and safety and minimizing the occurrence of occupational diseases, also improving the process efficiency and final product quality. Environmental conditions, levels of noise, postures, RSI risk and physical workload were assessed. The environmental conditions complied with the recommended norms, except at certain times of day, when workers should make compensation breaks. The workers…that collect minicuttings presented postures classified as normal by OWAS. On the other hand, the posture of workers dealing with cutting preparation requires corrections in a short run. The workers were subjected to moderate RSI risk due to the high degree of repeatability found. The physical workload was classified as mild, with no need for ergonomic interventions.
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Abstract: In some occupations pushing forces are frequent when performed on horizontal ground and are standardized (ISO 2002). In special cases employees are obliged to grow container on slopes and the strains are poorly investigated. The objective of this work is to measure forces required to push garbage container on horizontal and inclined at 0, 4, 11 and 16 % grounds. Sudden and significant increases in heart rate reflect the possible risk of heart overload in long displacements. This study proposes realistic limits and provides a simple and protective tool for a group of employees without distinction of age or gender.…These limits can even be reduced to a quasi-linear model where push 200 kg is the maximum for 0% slope and 60 kg for 10% slope.
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Keywords: Pushing force, Slope, limits
DOI: 10.3233/WOR-2012-0867-5516
Citation: Work,
vol. 41, no. Supplement 1, pp. 5516-5518, 2012
Abstract: Background: Field studies assessing biomechanical occupational exposures frequently utilize direct observation. PATH (Postures, Activities, Tools, and Handling) is a tool for systematically observing occupational exposures during non-cyclic or long, irregular-cycle jobs. While PATH has been used in many studies, its statistical performance under different data collection strategies has not yet been investigated. The purpose of the current study was to examine this issue. Methods: Data from labourers performing the four tasks comprising a ‘Jacking Pit Construction’ operation was extracted from a previously collected data set. Using a probability based re-sampling bootstrap approach, categorical trunk posture exposure data was compared across…nine simulated data collection strategies. Results/Conclusion: At the operational level, dispersion curves showed consistent trends of increased precision with increased sizes of the data set and curves tended to intersect at the expected value seen in the parent data set. At the task level, curves did not always follow the predicted pattern, highlighting the potential pitfalls of using PATH for infrequent tasks and the striking effect that individual workers can have on group exposure estimates of such tasks.
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Keywords: Work related MSD, exposure assessment, manual materials handling, statistical efficiency, measurement strategies
DOI: 10.3233/WOR-2012-0868-5519
Citation: Work,
vol. 41, no. Supplement 1, pp. 5519-5521, 2012
Abstract: During the last decades there have been many changes in the banking sector organization. It has been also observed the mutual growing of musculoskeletal and mental disorders. This study investigated the workload of bank tellers at a Brazilian public institution. It was performed the Ergonomic Work Analysis (EWA). Three employees participated in this study. During the analysis process, three research instruments were applied: Inventory of Work and Risk of Illness, Yoshitake Fatigue Questionnaire and Nordic Musculoskeletal Questionnaire, beyond the realization of footage recordings and the self-confrontation. The results indicated the existence of an excess of workload on the evaluated workstations,…mainly in relation to mental order constraints, that overlaps the physical aspects. Thereby it was found that the employees tend to adopt strategies trying to reduce the impacts of the excess of workload, in order to regulate it.
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Keywords: Bank teller, workload, Ergonomic Work Analysis
DOI: 10.3233/WOR-2012-0869-5522
Citation: Work,
vol. 41, no. Supplement 1, pp. 5522-5524, 2012
Abstract: This study aimed to perform an ergonomic analysis in a fiberglass parts factory. For this purpose, was used the methodology of Ergonomic Work Analysis (EWA). At the end of the study it was possible to identify some ways to the development of improvements in order to contribute to the transformation of working conditions in the sector analyzed.
Keywords: Ergonomics, Analysis, Health
DOI: 10.3233/WOR-2012-0870-5525
Citation: Work,
vol. 41, no. Supplement 1, pp. 5525-5526, 2012
Abstract: It is know that biomechanical overexposure of the joints is an important cause of occupational injuries. This paper presents a novel wearable measurement system for automated assessment of joint loading in the occupational setting. The wearable measurement system consists of a full body inertial sensor motion capture system which can be worn under the clothes and shoes instrumented with 3D force sensors (ForceShoes). Promising results have been found for the performance of the inertial sensor system and the ForceShoe, separately. Validation experiments are in preparation in which the performance of the combined measurements system will be tested in the laboratory…by comparing the assessed joint loading to the joint loading assessed by a conventional state-of-the-art lab-based method.
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Abstract: Restaurant employees must deal with loud noise, busy environments, difficult customers, heavy, awkward, sharp, and hot objects, repetitive motions, and stress on various joints, all of which can lead to fatigue, sudden accidents, and longterm musculoskeletal injury. The goal of this case study was to assess the risk of injuries and accidents from conducting various tasks in the restaurant, specifically carrying/lifting, table management, and polishing silverware. The nine participants were servers at a local country club restaurant. Physical workload was measured by a scale of physical exertion. Cognitive workload was assessed, as well as cumulative trauma disorder risk. Overall results…show that there is sufficient risk in some of the tasks to warrant concern. Specific results are discussed, as well as recommendations for improved safety.
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Abstract: This paper makes suggestions for the realization of an ergonomic intervention, guided by the method of Moraes and Mont'Alvão (2009), in the system of street vending of porridge, to improve the working conditions of this sales segment. Specifics are given about this practice and its problems, from ergonomic analysis comes to suggestions for improvements to be applied to a new system.
Abstract: The present work is a quality-quantitative study of cause-effect type. The objective of this study was to investigate the effect of a Labor Gym (LG) program in mental workload of workers from rectory of the Universidade Estadual do Oeste do Paraná (Unioeste) Cascavel. The sample consisted of 35 employees. For data collection, it was used the NASA-TLX questionnaire to evaluate the mental workload of employees. Then, the participants performed sessions of LG, totaling 20 classes. After this period the employess were re-evaluated. To characterize the sample, data were tabulated and a descriptive analysis was performed using the SPSS 15.0. The…interpretation of the NASA-TLX questionnaire was based on its own methodology. Before the LG sessions, the total average dimensions analyzed was 79 (sd: 11,05), representing a high rate of mental workload. After the period of LG, the total average of final mental workload decreased, but it remained with a high rate (x:75, sd: 13.42). In relation to the comparative analysis of the initial and final averages of mental workload, by t test (bipolar), there was no significant difference (p = 0.071668).
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