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- Macroergonomic aspects in the design of development programs in IDCsPublication . Coelho, Denis; Ferrara, Patrícia R.; Couvinhas, Ana F.; Lima, Tânia M.; Walter, Jake K.This paper revisits three reports on ergonomic aspects of development initiatives taking place in Industrially Developing Countries (IDCs). These include a macro-ergonomics intervention in a habitation community in Cape Verde (aimed at designing solutions contributing to sustainable development), the evolution of poultry growers’ control strategies as an integrative broiler operation is introduced in Mozambique, and a set of macro-ergonomic considerations related to the Agro Forestry Village Project in Mozambique. The paper seeks to set the reviewed development endeavors against the backdrop of the goals of ergonomics interventions. This reflection may inform development agents in future processes of design and implementation of integrated community and work systems transformation.
- Gender Differences in Associating Musculoskeletal Complaints, Housework, Electronic Device Usage and Physical Exercise for Administrative WorkersPublication . Lima, Tânia M.; Coelho, Denis A.This study assessed musculoskeletal complaints (MSCs) in administrative workers, associating MSCs with nonpaid housework, home use of electronic devices and physical exercise, while keeping a distinctive gender approach. This may promote the development of more effective preventive measures, by meeting the specific strengths and weaknesses of each gender. Methods. Ninety-six administrative workers (58 women and 38 men) who used computers more than 50% of their working time participated in a cross-sectional study. A questionnaire concerning individual socio-demographic data, habits and lifestyle, and including the Nordic musculoskeletal questionnaire (NMQ), was deployed. Gender-based odds ratios for MSCs in body areas over the previous 12 months and correlation coefficients between habits and lifestyle variables and NMQ variables were computed. Results. Women did not incur a higher risk of MSCs than men. Analysis of the association did not yield meaningful associations for either gender. Results suggest giving future consideration to development of gender-specific preventive measures. Conclusion. Computerized work performed concomitantly with physical exposures outside the workplace showed mixed associations with MSCs, according to gender and depending on the kind of exposure. Results are indicative of the need for development of gender-specific preventive measures.
- Psychosocial and ergonomic survey of office and field jobs in a utility companyPublication . Coelho, Denis A.; Tavares, Carla S. D.; Lima, Tânia M.; Lourenço, Luís MiguelThe effect of different kinds of work on the psychosocial assessment of workers under the same management and organizational environment is investigated. Methods. A voluntary assessment in a utility company was carried out using the short version of the Copenhagen psychosocial questionnaire (CoPsoQ) on two occasions, 1.5 years apart. Initially, 25 office workers (11 men and 14 women) participated, while 14 of those workers (8 women and 6 men) participated in the second assessment together with 32 field workers. The sewage, water treatment and maintenance workers, totaling 32 men, also participated in a field ergonomics assessment using theWashington State Department of Labor and Industries field work ergonomic checklist. Results. The longitudinal outlook was fairly stable, with sustained severe scores in many CoPsoQ subscales and intensification of severity of workers’ control over work and esteem for men. A significantly higher esteem score resulted for field rather than office workers. Workers subjected to foul odors showed similar severity of psychosocial factors. Discussion. For most psychosocial dimensions, the organizational design and management system in place, as well as the overall cultural environment in which it operates, create a much stronger and more decisive impact than job-specific factors.
- Season influence on rapid thermal sensation assessment by young adultsPublication . Coelho, Denis; Silva, Pedro Dinho daThermal comfort is one of the most important ergonomic aspects of building occupancy. In this research, laboratory experiments are performed in a climatic chamber and described in detail. Experiments are carried out under two scenarios: with two different college students cohorts and with five different but comparable experimental conditions in each cohort. Three hundred twenty-two individual assessments under specific controlled thermal environment conditions are collected. The actual thermal sensation assessments obtained in the experiments are compared to the results obtained by a predicted mean vote (PMV) model. The correlation analysis shows that statistically significant differences are meaningful between the spring-summer and the autumn-winter experiments but not between genders. This paper discusses the plausible factors contributing to the different correlations experienced in the autumn-winter and spring-summer experiments. A correction factor between PMV according to Fanger's comfort equation and the actual thermal sensation values reported by the participants is also sought with a focus on the seasonal effects. The predicted results are in good agreement with the experimental results. This allows for further considerations about the influence of the season on the initial thermal sensations experienced by young adults.
- Working conditions under multiple exposures: A cross-sectional study of private sector administrative workersPublication . Coelho, Denis; Tavares, Carla; Lourenço, Luís Miguel; Lima, Tânia M.BACKGROUND: Office workers are increasingly exposed to physical and psychosocial risk factors. OBJECTIVE: To assess the association between environmental, physical and organizational working conditions and the physical and psychosocial well-being of a sample of private sector office workers. METHODS: Musculoskeletal pain was collected from a body map and the Disabilities of the Arms, Shoulders and Hands questionnaire. The short version of the Copenhagen Psychosocial Questionnaire enabled collecting information on six job related satisfaction and dissatisfaction subscales. A checklist for ergonomics in computer work guided the analysis of ergonomic factors and measurements were taken to characterize environmental conditions. Association between exposures and outcomes was calculated using IBM SPSS Statistics 20 software. RESULTS: Significant moderate positive association was found between dissatisfaction with job psychological demands and musculoskeletal pain in the upper body (0.40; p = 0.05), as well as between postural ergonomic mismatches and dissatisfaction with job insecurity towards the future (0.42; p = 0.04). A significant moderate negative association (−0,47; p = 0.02) was found as well between satisfaction with job social support and with leadership quality and location of the work station in an open-plan office as opposed to smaller office rooms. CONCLUSIONS: The results show how raising awareness of the risk factors encountered in contemporary office work is still necessary to promote widespread improvement of working conditions, from both a physical and a psychosocial perspective.
- Prevention of musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) in office work: A case studyPublication . Lima, Tânia M.; Coelho, Denis A.Twelve recently built office work stations, where jobs imply continued use of information and communication technologies, were analyzed for ergonomic risk factors. Based on a literature review of ergonomic recommendations for computer and general office work, a checklist was devised for assistance in identifying inadequate ergonomic situations, a process that was informed by pain complaints information. RULA (Rapid Upper Limb Assessment) was selected to estimate the risk of MSDs, considering the criteria of applicability and appropriateness to the case studied. This method was applied by an occupational health and safety technician to the most critical job observed in the workplace. Criticality was estimated through observations aided by the systematic use of a checklist tailored to the specific office scenario. Recommendations for change were provided for implementation in all workplaces in the office, in order to improve work conditions, and guide the setup of a MSD prevention training program.
- Ergonomic and psychosocial factors and musculoskeletal complaints in public sector administration – A joint monitoring approach with analysis of associationPublication . Lima, Tânia M.; Coelho, Denis A.Administration entails a high level of computerization with multiple risk factors (including psychosocial and of ergonomic nature), affecting worker health and well-being. An ergonomics researcher supported by a senior ergonomist and guided by a domain specific checklist assessed physical ergonomics of an organization, including 96 administrative workers in the assessment. Unstructured observations and interviews to the workers were also done. Socio-demographic, musculoskeletal health and psychosocial job data was collected from a composite questionnaire including the versions validated for the Portuguese population of the Nordic Musculoskeletal Questionnaire (NMQ) and the Copenhagen Psychosocial Questionnaire (COPSOQ). This paper demonstrates an approach to jointly monitor multiple factors to support controlling work system efficiency, safeguarding health. Even though postural issues, especially static posture, have previously been identified as risk factors contributing to the onset of musculoskeletal disorders (MSD), the results of correlation analysis did not unveil a salient association between musculoskeletal complaints and ergonomic mismatches. The analysis did unveil statistically significant associations between exposure to psychosocial job factors and ergonomic risk factors. The pairs of variables actually associated were different according to gender confirming the need for future studies aiming the gendered study of MSD causality. Relevance to industry: Computerized offices expose workers to multiple risk factors (including of psychosocial and ergonomic nature), and possibly influence their health and well-being. The paper demonstrates an approach to jointly monitor multiple factors to support controlling work system efficiency and negative outcomes.
- A Growing Concept of Ergonomics Including Comfort, Pleasure and Cognitive EngineeringPublication . Coelho, Denis; Dahlman, Sven; Gonçalves, Luís Carlos Carrilho; Woods, David D.The aim of this dissertation is to study and assess comfort, pleasure and cognitive engineering for relevance in engineering design processes, working towards finding an integrated theoretical structure. From this overall aim, operative aims and research questions were derived and pursued with the support of literature studies and analysis of five empirical studies. The operative aims are: establish the levels of scientific knowledge (in terms of development potential and feasibility); test the levels of development in practice of theoretical structures, data collection methods and representation formats; and, apply activity theory to attempt compatibilizing the three theoretical structures (broken down into subconcepts, operatives and measurable variables). Conclusions and conclusive remarks are delivered, springing from the analyses made. The results of the assessments of model validity and maturity showed that universal design methods in comfort, pleasure and cognitive engineering, for direct application by engineering design, are presently not available, with an exception found for thermal comfort. Predictability concerning seat comfort, cognitive engineering and pleasure with products has not yet been achieved, but it is deemed feasible for some of their sub-areas: modelling physical discomfort in sitting, modelling pleasurable product properties for cultural sub-groups and predicting patterns of the impact of change on joint cognitive systems. Other sub-areas are not considered worthwhile pursuing for attaining engineering systematization, since their predictability is not deemed attainable. This situation hence precludes the development of a complete integrated comfort, pleasure and cognitive engineering design method for unaided application by engineering design. In these areas, design problems are thus better tackled using a combined process of research and design, which recurs to the existing theoretical structures but also to context based research intended to fill in the gaps of theory. A moderate level of compatibility between the theoretical structures of comfort, pleasure and cognitive engineering was attained. While pleasure pursues in practice the goal of adding gains, comfort and cognitive engineering struggle in practice with relieving pain and minimizing loss. The psychological human aspect is common to all three areas, although it is not pursued in practice in comfort, nor does cognitive engineering pursue in practice the psychological aspect of emotions. Partial commonalities were found between comfort and pleasure (in what concerns physical aspects) and between cognitive engineering and pleasure (in what concerns psychological aspects) at the level of subconcepts. A common underlying activity structure of activity-goal-user-artefact was demonstrated for the empirical studies dealing with comfort and cognitive engineering. This showed, for both areas, that deriving measurable variables and identifying operatives could be done from the operation level of activity theory, once the elements relevant to the design problem are classified according to the activity-user-goal-artefact categories. Activity theory also enabled structuring and organizing a common research-design process underlying the conduction of specific design studies in comfort and cognitive engineering. This process is also suggested as applicable for designing Human Factors and Ergonomics quality wherever theory gaps are found.
- A participatory ergonomics approach to prevention of musculoskeletal disorders in Portuguese small and medium enterprises: Ergo@OfficePublication . Lima, Tânia M.; Coelho, DenisA participatory ergonomics program enables a company to engage employees in its preventive strategy. This paper presents Ergo@Office, an integrated methodology devised for promoting continuous implementation of preventive measures while monitoring their effectiveness over time in a participatory manner. It consists of a straightforward and cost-effective resource which is primarily aimed at supporting the identification of the need for implementation of interventions for strategic prevention of musculoskeletal disorders. As a practitioner tool, Ergo@Office guides the deployment of a participatory approach to ergonomics in both the analysis as well as in the intervention phase. The implementation of the measures envisaged in this planning support framework result from teamwork between the OSHS (Occupational Health and Safety Services) and the employee whose work is under focus. The implemented measures should then be monitored, which will enable assessing their effectiveness and their adjustment to the labour setting in an up-to-date manner.
- Thermal Sensation Assessment by Young Portuguese Adults in Controlled SettingsPublication . Coelho, Denis; Silva, Pedro Dinho daLaboratory experiments in a controlled climatic chamber enabled evaluation of fitness of the PMV equation to thermal sensation assessment by a Portuguese sample. Experiments were carried out in two occasions (May and December 2014), with two different college students cohorts, with 5 experimental condi-tions in each cohort. A total of 323 individual assessments of specific controlled thermal environment condi-tions were collected. Subjects sat down in a chair while inside the chamber and evaluated the thermal envi-ronment after a standard period of 3 minutes inside the controlled climate chamber. Each participating subject undertook the sitting in the chamber in five different days, with different climatic conditions each time. PMV and thermal sensation as assessed in the climatic chamber are compared, yielding correlation coefficients which differ between the Spring-Summer experiments and the Autumn-Winter Experiments but not between genders. The paper discusses possible factors contributing to different correlations obtained in the Autumn-Winter and the Spring-Summer experiments.