Ergonomics

Dans un environnement instable et incertain, exigeant une forte capacité à donner du sens, mobiliser, réagir et s’adapter, les modes d’organisation et de management traditionnels en entreprise ont atteint leurs limites. Plutôt que la défiance, l’autorité et le contrôle comme principes clés, l’entreprise a plus que jamais besoin de faire confiance à « ceux qui font », les responsabiliser, libérer leurs initiatives et s’appuyer autant que possible sur l’intelligence collective.

Plusieurs entreprises se sont déjà engagées dans cette voie et des témoignages existent pour montrer tous les bienfaits de ces expériences. Mais quel crédit leur accorder, surtout quand on sait qu’ils émanent généralement soit de dirigeants qui sont à l’initiative de la transformation de leur entreprise, soit de salariés qui sont le plus souvent choisis pour témoigner ? Sans parler du fait que les entreprises qui ont connu des difficultés ou échoué à mener à bien leur transformation rechignent, bien souvent, à témoigner. Pour réussir à croire ces témoignages, il faudrait pouvoir observer les nouvelles formes d’organisation en action, les questionner et évaluer, d’un point de vue aussi indépendant et objectif que possible, leurs effets réels. Or, force est de constater que peu de travaux ayant adopté cette perspective ont été publiés à ce jour. D’où la question qui reste en suspens et que pose cet ouvrage : libérer l’entreprise, ça marche ?

Pour y répondre, 8 études de cas ont été réunies dans cet ouvrage. Ces études sont portées par des disciplines variées : sciences de gestion, psychologie, ergonomie, philosophie. Chacune d’elles concerne une entreprise particulière (parfois deux), dont elle a cherché à comprendre l’origine et les modalités de la transformation ainsi que les effets qu’elle avait eus à travers plusieurs questions : comment la « libération » d’une entreprise impacte le management, son rôle et ses pratiques ? Comment est affectée la vie des collectifs de travail avec des acteurs rendus responsables et autonomes ? Est-ce que les principes de responsabilités et d’autonomie conduisent ces acteurs à réaliser leur travail différemment ? Si oui, est-ce que leurs performances en sont améliorées ? Et quels effets un tel changement a-t-il sur leur santé ?

Les entreprises étudiées sont diverses de par leur taille et leurs secteurs d’activité. Cette diversité permettra au lecteur de découvrir différentes façons de mettre en pratique les principes de responsabilisation et d’autonomie. Et de constater que les effets réels que ces principes produisent sont parfois attendus, parfois beaucoup moins.

Ont contribué à cet ouvrage : Matthieu Battistelli ; Thibaud Brière ; Jean-Luc Christin ; Thomas Coutrot ; Patrick Gilbert ; Théo Holtz ; Laurent Karsenty ; Domitille Léonard ; Sophie Marmorat ; Brigitte Nivet ; Nathalie Raulet-Croset ; Xavier Rétaux ; Ann-Charlotte Teglborg

Over the past two decades, the 'new view' has become a popular term in safety theory and practice. It has however also been criticised, provoking division and controversy. The aim of this article is to clarify the current situation. It describes the origins, ambiguities and successes of the 'new view' as well as the critiques formulated. The article begins by outlining the origins of this concept, in the 1980s and 1990s, from the cognitive (system) engineering (CSE) school initiated by Rasmussen, Hollnagel and Woods. This differed from Reason's approach to human error in this period. The article explains how Dekker, in the early 2000s, translates ideas from the CSE school to coin the term 'new view', while also developing, shortly after, an argument against Reason's legacy that was more radical and critical than his predecessors'. Secondly, the article describes the ambiguities associated with the term 'new view' because of the different programs that have derived from CSE (Resilience Engineering-RE then Safety II, Safety Differently, Theory of Graceful Extensibility). The text then identifies three programs by different thinkers (methodological, formal and critical) and Dekker's three eclectic versions of the 'new view'. Thirdly, the article discusses the success of the CSE and RE school, showing how it has strongly resonated with many practitioners outside the academic world. Fourthly, the objections raised within the field of human factors and system safety but also from different traditions (e.g., system safety engineering with Leveson, sociology of safety with Hopkins) are introduced, and discussed.

There are very few connections between physics and cognitive psychology. But in this paper, we assume that recent models inspired by concepts issued from physics and problemsolving cognitive processes like the Model Human Processor with Real Time Constraints (MHP/RT) model (Kitajima and Toyota, 2012) [1] allow to better describe and predict human behaviors especially in complex and dynamical environments where interactions between several bands and space-time constraints exist. After presenting the importance of the concept of resonance in physics and in cognitive psychology, the deterministic chaos in human action and behavior will be described, by focusing on an innovative model directly inspired by models issued from physics and problem-solving cognitive processes, Model Human Processor With Real Time Constraints (MHP/RT). If nowadays, the distance between physics and psychology is very prominent, the main goal of this paper is to defend the necessity to (re)create strong relatio...

ABSTRACT Human factors and ergonomics applies scientific information about human cognition and behavior to support the design of products and systems that enhance human well-being and performance. Human factors and ergonomics professionals investigate human–system interaction at the individual, group, and organizational levels. The aim is to design products that augment human physical, cognitive, and motivational capabilities and improve the social, technical, and organizational aspects of a system. Human factors and ergonomics has been used to improve safety and productivity particularly in complex sociotechnical systems.

In the present paper there is a description of the manner that various educational management processes are implemented, using the Greek secondary education system as an example. These processes are described in comparison with the goals of cognitive ergonomics, revealing their disadvantages. Alternative ways of implementation are proposed for increasing the efficiency, the security, the correctness and the easiness of the working conditions through a better usage of ICT but also through the application of relevant practices of other organizations.

One of the prominent roles of ergonomics is to understand, and design lifestyles support system that apart from optimizing human well-being and overall system performance also brings good experience of using any product. This paper is focused on understanding the good experience part of any design, and presents a pilot study conducted to understand how foul smelling shoes affects the good experience of using a shoe-rack. Literature reports many studies concerning the interaction of humans with shoes and shoe-racks, but limited research has been reported on understanding how the foul smelling shoes affects the overall experience of using a shoe rack. India is a hot and humid country, and people often perspire after medium to rigorous physical activity leading to foul smelling body, clothes, and shoes. People regularly bathe and wash cloths, but shoes are seldom washed, and without proper ventilation it becomes a breeding ground for a very smelly bacterium called Kytococcus Sedentarius. This paper posits that this foul smell affects the users' experience of using shoe-racks, and reports a pilot study conducted to understand the severity of the problem. The paper starts with a literature review establishing the research gap. It then illustrates on the results of the survey conducted and why existing solutions are not so popular in India. The last part of the paper presents some base experiments conducted which when integrated with the shoe-rack design may eliminate the problem of foul smell and improve the overall experience of users.

Perché gli “ecosistemi tribali” dei coworking sono così attraenti rispetto ai modelli tradizionali del vivere lavorativo? Forse perché offrono potenziali dinamismi impliciti alle reti di collaborazione multidisciplinari delle antiche piazze-mercato, quali vere e proprie fucine di innovazione sociale?

L’interazione acustica, cioè la chiacchierata estemporanea con persone con background diversi e specializzati in discipline altrettanto diverse è certamente uno dei fattori in grado di generare un volano relazionale e una conseguente crescita conoscitiva a una velocità difficilmente raggiungibile in una dimensione individuale. In essi si origina una sorta di naturale ecosistema dinamico in grado di generare spontanee reti di collaborazioni orizzontali tra gruppi professionali spesso totalmente disomogenei.
Oggi, i coworking “globali” sono infatti popolati da persone che fanno ogni sorta di attività: liberi professionisti, creativi, avvocati, imprenditori, commercialisti, programmatori ecc. Peraltro in ognuno di essi, così come negli antichi mercati, si genera un equilibrio competitivo con chi svolge lo stesso “mestiere”, si apprezza cioè il gomito-a-gomito della competizione “palese” rispetto a quella, spesso occulta, che si vive giornalmente nelle “forzate” dimensioni lavorative aziendali. […]

The detrimental influence of distraction on memory and attention is well established, yet it is not as clear whether irrelevant information impacts categorization abilities and whether this impact changes in aging. We examined categorization with morphed prototype stimuli in both younger and older adults, using an adaptive staircase approach to assess participants' performance in conditions with and without visual distractors. Results showed that distraction did not affect younger adults, but produced a negative impact on older adults' categorization such that there was an interaction of age and distraction. These results suggest a relationship between the increased susceptibility to visual distraction in normal aging and impairment in categorization.

Studies on classroom design, most especially in Nigerian secondary schools, are seriously lacking. With particular focus on selected teachers in Ogun State, this ex-post facto research examined classroom design and its influence on teachers’ performance in teaching job. A total of 128 participants were randomly selected from 16 secondary schools in Ijebu Ode and 128 questionnaires titled ‘Scale on Classroom Design and Teachers Performance’ (SCDTP) with reliability co-efficient of 0.82 obtained through cronbach alpha method was developed and administered on the target participants. 96 instruments, constituting 75% of the total administered, were however returned and analysed. Simple percentage and Chi-square inferential statistics utilising 0.05 level of significance was adopted in testing the hypotheses. The study revealed a significant positive relationship between classroom design and teachers’ job satisfaction, job performance, teaching and learning outcome. The study concludes t...

Background There are limited data on the epidemiology of adolescent soccer injury across all levels of play. Hypothesis Through implementation and validation of an injury surveillance system in adolescent soccer, risk factors for injury will be identified. Study Design Descriptive epidemiology study. Methods The study population was a random sample of 21 adolescent soccer teams (ages 12-18). A certified athletic therapist completed preseason baseline measurements and did weekly assessments of any identified soccer injury. The injury definition included any injury occurring in soccer that resulted in 1 or more of the following: medical attention, the inability to complete a session, or missing a subsequent session. Results Based on completeness of data in addition to validity of time loss, this method of surveillance has proven to be effective. The overall injury rate during the regular season was 5.59 injuries per 1000 player hours (95% confidence interval, 4.42-6.97). Soccer injury...

Workers movements and their body mechanics during work, design of tools as well as work layout is important to fit the task to match differences between human capabilities. The data set examined 40  physically disabled workers from different areas and backgrounds in  Jordan. It consists of anthropometric measurements that are categorized into 7  key measures namely: weight, stature,  hip height, knee height, elbow height, hand length, and Elbow-fingertip length. Also, it includes information on the most parts that cause pain for the same participants using the discomfort questionnaire. The dataset supports the article "  An integration of a  QFD model with  Fuzzy-ANP approach for determining the importance weights for engineering characteristics of the proposed wheelchair design"[1]. The obtained dataset can also be used to support an ergonomic and biomechanical evaluation performance of physically disabled workers as well as using it in conjunction with ISO standards for equipment design and safety.  Moreover,  This dataset is useful for optimizing the dimensions’ design for the physically disabled workplace as well as preparing the House of Quality to prioritize the final design requirements.

This study examined how young healthy adults learn stilt walking. Ten healthy male university students attended
two sessions of testing held on two consecutive days. In each session participants performed three blocks of 10 stiltwalking
trials. Angular movements of head and trunk and the spatial and temporal gait parameters were recorded.
When walking on stilts young adults improved their gait velocity through modifications of step parameters while
maintaining trunk movements close to that observed during normal over-ground walking. Participants improved
their performance by increasing their step frequency and step length and reducing the double support percentage
of the gait cycle. Stilts are often used for drywall installation, painting over-the-head areas and raising workers
above the ground without the burden of erecting scaffolding. This research examines the locomotor adaptation
as young healthy adults learn the complex motor task of stilt walking; a task that is frequently used in the
construction industry.

Leading an investigation in product design about children’s home furniture, a research for a case study on evolutive chairs brought us to an approach which can point out ways for a better and more adequate practice in Design. The work of Peter Opsvik (n. 1939), a Norwegian designer, searches for a balance between traditional materials, innovative ergonomic approaches and ecological and ethical concerns. Finding elements which define Opsvik’s practice and thinking, we may conclude his theories, apart from traditional design approaches, add a valuable study in human nature and lead to a better and more complete attitude as a designer.

Awkward shoulder postures have been suggested to be a cause of shoulder discomfort among bakery workers. This study aimed at long-duration assessment of upper arms posture and motion and their association with perceived symptoms among bakery workers. Among workers in three types of bread systems, fifty-seven bakers were randomly selected. The self-reported rates for the perceived severity and frequency of shoulder discomfort were collected through questionnaires. Working postures and movements of the shoulders during work were continuously recorded with inclinometry measurements for three hours. Percentage of time spent with the upper arm right elevated more than 60 • was significantly correlated with the perceived discomfort rate in the right shoulder for all bakery workers (r = 0.48 to 0.63, p ≤ 0.05). A significant correlation was found between angular velocity with the perceived discomfort intensity for right upper arm. (r = 0.60 to 0.87, ≤0.005) of all workers in the three baking systems. Physical exposure in bakers was characterized by significantly more awkward postures and the percentage of time spent with the upper arms elevated more than 60 •. The current findings can facilitate more informed decisions with respect to both engineering (e.g.ergonomic workstation and tool design) and administration (e.g. work organization) control strategies.

Activity-based Flexible Offices (A-FOs) are offices with unassigned desks that provide a variety of workspaces. This paper presents desk-sharing and speech rules identified in A-FOs in four Swedish organisations, the emergence of and compliance with these rules, and their consequences for work conditions. Data collection involved 105 semi-structured interviews, document analyses, and observations. The identified rules were: (1) to remove belongings, (2) temporal restrictions on using the same workstations, (3) temporal restrictions on using scarce zones, (4) restrictions on verbal interactions, and (5) restrictions on phone conversations. The cases with extensive user involvement in their planning process had explicit unambiguous rules. A better compliance with rules occurred when (i) the employees were well-prepared and had a unified understanding regarding how and why to follow the rules, (ii) the rules were explicitly communicated and were regarded as easy to follow, and (iii) fo...

Work is an important yet understudied life domain for adolescents that has important implications for their development and well-being. Work relationships, particularly with supervisors and coworkers, are critical influences on teens. To the extent these relationships are negative, as evidenced in workplace bullying, the impact on teens can be wide-ranging and enduring. In this article, research on workplace bullying and its effects is briefly summarized and used as a context for exploring adolescent experiences with bullying on the job, both in terms of their vulnerability to exposure and unique impacts. Implications of these findings for health professionals in the assessment and treatment of teens exposed to workplace bullying are discussed.