Musicians' social representations of health and illness: a qualitative case study about focal dystonia

Musicians are artists who use the entire body when playing their instruments. Since over-practicing may lead to physical problems, musicians might encounter focal dystonia, a hand's motor disorder. The cause seems to be the brain's confusion between afferent and efferent information transfer provoking a disharmony with the instrument. Although focal dystonia may have serious consequences for a musician's career, it is unclear how musicians perceive this trouble. This case study describes two musicians with focal dystonia. Qualitative research was used to study their social representations of health and illness. The results show the central role of the hand during music playing, the passion for music and the understanding for focal dystonia as "brain panic". Therapists should account for those specific features inherent to this population in order to better help them in their quest for art through music. Giving a voice to musicians may improve their quality of care.     

Work of gravediggers and health

Gravediggers have death as object of their work. Their activities are painful, physically and mental demanding, as well as unhealthy. Literature is scarce about this theme. The aim of this study is to evaluate gravediggers' work activities and health consequences. The methodological frame which guided this study was Dejours' psychic suffering and its association with the psychodynamic aspects of work. Data collection took place in April-May 2011 in one public and one private cemetery of S?o Paulo, Brazil. Four male workers, aged between 45 to 60 years old were interviewed. Their work activities were observed during a workday. Participants reported their life dreams, defense mechanisms and frustration. The discourse of gravediggers showed serious problems associated to physical and mental demands, public invisibility and/ or social devaluation of work. The most important physical symptom was body pain. In spite this is a preliminary study, it was possible to raise a number of work stressors and health outcomes of gravediggers, an "invisible" worker of our society.     

Ergonomic work analysis of urban bus drivers in Rio de Janeiro city

This article is the result of a case study on ergonomic work analysis carried out in an urban bus company located in Ilha do Governador, Rio de Janeiro. The methodology used in this work follows the French-tradition Ergonomic Analysis of the Work (EWA) combined with the best tradition from anglo-saxon ergonomic work analysis. The situated diagnosis was performed to provide relevant information about the work conditions of a bus driver.     

Thermal comfort and personal protective equipment (PPE)

Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) is considered the last preferred solution to an Occupational Safety Health (OSH) system. Brazilian OSH legislation assumes and requires PPE usage to neutralize the possibility of pesticide contamination. This study examines the inadequacy of the PPE used in a tomato crop, particularly from the standpoint of thermal comfort. This study made observations regarding heart rate and body temperature in a controlled environment using a treadmill (with and without PPE) of 12 volunteers; and during the process of rural labor (at rest and in normal work routine) of 2 actual rural workers. Comparing the results of the treadmill test (with and without PPE) which tried to reproduce the same level of effort and environmental conditions of the actual rural work, this study demonstrated that PPE makes thermoregulation harder and tympanic temperature reaches higher values with the same level of effort. Moreover, body temperature increases quickly: with PPE it took 15 minutes to raise 1°C in body temperature, compared to 40 minutes without PPE. The results of this study indicated that the use inadequate PPE might pose thermoregulation risk to rural workers.     

Ergonomic factors and production target evaluation in eucalyptus timber harvesting operations in mountainous terrains

There are several forest operations involved in Eucalyptus timber harvesting. This study was carried out during brush-cutting; tree felling, bucking, delimbing, piling and manual extraction operations, with the following objectives: a) analyzing, ergonomically, two systems of brush-cutting: one manual and the other semi-mechanized, using two different machines; b) ergonomically evaluating three different brands of pruner machines used in delimbing felled trees. c) determining the feasible target of productivity as a function of ergonomic factors relevant to establish the time of resting pauses for workers in manual and semi-mechanized timber harvesting systems in mountainous terrain. Brush-cutting, either manual or semimechanized, is an activity carried out prior to timber harvesting. It is usually a hard work, with low productivity when compared with mechanized systems. Pruner machines have been used by forest companies, due to the great possibilities to improve productivity, quality and the health of workers. Ergonomics is a discipline that promotes the adequacy of work to the physical and mental characteristics of human beings, seeking to design production systems and products considering relevant aspects, including social, organizational and environmental factors. Companies should consider the ergonomic factor in the determination of daily worker production targets.     

Specialisation and training for fire-fighters driving heavy rescue vehicles: consequences for the development of operators?

This work was undertaken in France at the request of a local fire and rescue school in order to conduct an analysis of driving two types of heavy rescue vehicle with a view to improving training. This study took place in a context of specialisation: the drivers of these vehicles will henceforth only perform this type of task. Consequently, specific training has been designed in advance. Our study concerns the improvement of this training, taking account of the particularities of driving these vehicles in emergency situations typical to the profession of fire-fighters. The results stress first that driving of rescue vehicles in emergency situations is a multidimensional collective activity. Driving strategies identified share certain common objectives: "optimising trajectories", warn other road users, anticipate their behaviour and leave room for manoeuvre to counter and react to any unexpected behaviour. They include risks management for the potential victims of the incident and the risk of accidents during the journey. These initial results help identify certain recommendations for the training courses dealing with driving vehicles in emergency situations. They also provide a warning concerning the possible consequences of driver specialisation.     

Invisible computer for collaborative design: evaluation of a multimodal sketch-based environment

In the areas of design, especially in architectural design, collaboration has become an important challenge. The specialization of skills increase, work teams are more and more extensive and the geographic distance between them increases too. The economic and ecological stakes related to remote collaboration are an evidence. This context involves the need to support most efficiently possible remote working meetings. We present the Distributed Collaborative Digital Studio (DSDC), a tool designed to recreate, in distant situations, the context of copresence meetings. This shared environment is created in the "invisible computer" approach [11]. The idea is that the tool should disappear from user's consciousness. Indeed, creative design activities require some fluidity in their process. Therefore, any involuntary interruption created by the system can potentially brake creativity. In this perspective, we investigate specifically the "invisibility" of our environment. To do this, we propose a framework for the operationalization of the concept and a methodology to test the system invisibility. This methodology was applied through a case study consisting of a corpus of 12 hours of remote collaborative design sessions with the DSDC. We highlight the learning effects while using our system, conclude on its effectiveness and discuss our methodology.     

Burnout syndrome, working conditions, and health: a reality among public high school teachers in Brazil

The objective of the study was to evaluate the occurrence of Burnout Syndrome in 100 teachers of six public high schools and its correlation with working conditions in a southeast city of Brazil. Characterization of the sample occurred after application of a socio-demographic questionnaire. Evaluation of the working conditions was done by means of an Ergonomic Working Analysis. The presence of Burnout Syndrome was evaluated by means of the Maslach Burnout Inventory. The sample presented the predominance of women, with an average age of 40.4 and the majority married with children. Roughly 50% had less than 10 years of service, and more than half of the teachers taught more than 18 classes per week. Hoarseness after work was principally reported among women, which required many days off for health treatment. Environmental conditions reflect inadequacy in relation to noise, light, humidity and temperature. Presence of pain in the upper limbs was especially high among women. Risk of musculoskeletal disorders in the upper limbs predominated as moderately important to significant. We also identified an average distance walked by teachers of 1.5 Km and an average of 4.2 Kg of school supplies carried between classes. The Burnout Syndrome presented a high score for depersonalization principally among men, but it has association with both sexes. Emotional exhaustion correlates with noise, depersonalization, and personal fulfillment, in addition to the high number of weekly lessons. It can be concluded that Burnout syndrome is present among teachers, principally in terms of depersonalization, deserving the attention of government officials and the schools, as well as the teachers themselves.     

Evaluation of objectivity, reliability and criterion validity of the key indicator method for manual handling operations (KIM-MHO), draft 2007

Upper extremity musculoskeletal symptoms and disorders are common in the working population. The economic and social impact of such disorders is considerable. Long-time, dynamic repetitive exposure of the hand-arm system during manual handling operations (MHO) alone or in combination with static and postural effort are recognised as causes of musculoskeletal symptoms and disorders. The assessment of these manual work tasks is crucial to estimate health risks of exposed employees. For these work tasks, a new method for the assessment of the working conditions was developed and a validation study was performed. The results suggest satisfying criterion validity and moderate objectivity of the KIM-MHO draft 2007. The method was modified and evaluated again. It is planned to release a new version of KIM-MHO in spring 2012.