ABSTRACT IN FRENCH: Les institutions en charge de la prévention des maladies des travailleurs agricoles exposés aux pesticides utilisent principalement des méthodes expérimentales en laboratoire pour ...repérer et mesurer ces intoxications. Il peut cependant arriver que les agents de ces institutions construisent des méthodes alternatives de mesure du danger. L'observation in situ des situations de travail permet notamment de découvrir des formes suprenantes d'exposition professionnelle à ces produits chimiques. En décrivant une enquête de ce type, conduite en France par la Mutualité sociale agricole sur des intoxications liées à un pesticide cancérigène, l'arsenite de soude, cet article restitue les conditions sociales qui rendent possible ce type d'initiative. // ABSTRACT IN ENGLISH: Public authorities in charge of preventing occupational diseases related to pesticide exposure mostly rely on laboratory experiments to identify and assess the toxic effects of these substances. However, in some cases, officials are able to build alternative methods to measure this kind of danger. In particular, in situ observations of farmers daily activities offer the possibility to discover unexpected sources of occupational exposure to pesticides. Such a method has been used by the Social security agency in charge of the medical surveillance of farmers, so as to assess workers exposure to a known carcinogenic pesticide, sodium arsenite. By describing how the investigation has been launced and conducted, we highlight the conditions of possibility of this kind of innovation in measuring the chemicals dangers to which farmworkers are exposed.
The notions of Operational Leeway and Power to Act are often used as synonymous. Therefore, it is necessary to specify their relationships. Clinical approaches to work activities in psychology share ...with ergonomics a point of view according to which interventions must necessarily be anchored into the complexity of work situations, with the collaboration of various professionals. In order to better understand the developmental processes of professional activity, and the obstacles to these processes, Wisner borrowed from the activity theories of Vygotsky and Léontiev. The examination of relationships between Operational Leeway and Power to Act questions the conception of activity development, which has been put forward by ergonomists and psychologists. We discuss the links between subjectivity, activity and development, and the fact that organizational, individual, and collective operational leeway take their source in the development of the powers to act. The operational leeway thus gained could become instrumental in further developing powers to act in the subject's activity. However, workplace interventions must be thought of as means to foster professional debates concerning different ways to think about, and act upon, operational dilemmas at work. //ABSTRACT IN FRENCH: Les concepts de marges de manuvre et de pouvoir d'agir sont souvent utilisés comme des synonymes d'où la nécessité d'examiner leurs liens. La clinique de l'activité en psychologie du travail partage avec l'ergonomie de l'activité le point de vue selon lequel l'intervention doit nécessairement s'ancrer dans la complexité des situations de travail, avec la collaboration de ses différents professionnels. C'est aussi pour mieux comprendre les processus de développement de l'activité des professionnels, et leurs empêchements, que Wisner empruntait aux théories de l'activité de Vygotski et Léontiev. L'examen des rapports entre pouvoir d'agir et marges de manuvre interroge la conception du développement de l'activité mobilisée tant du côté des ergonomes que des psychologues. Ce sont alors les liens entre subjectivité, activité et développement qui sont discutés. Au bout du compte, le développement des marges de manuvre organisationnelles, individuelles et collectives prennent leur source dans le développement des pouvoirs d'agir dans l'activité des différents protagonistes de l'organisation du travail. En retour, ces marges de manuvre élargies peuvent potentiellement devenir des instruments du développement des pouvoirs d'agir dans l'activité du sujet. Mais alors l'intervention dans les milieux de travail doit être pensée comme un moyen d'instituer des débats professionnels sur les différentes voies d'agir et de penser les dilemmes de métiers.
En constatant que la procédure de demande d'explications écrites en vigueur au sein de l'entreprise avait été mise en óeuvre à la suite de faits considérés comme fautifs, que le salarié devait ...répondre seul et immédiatement aux questions qui lui étaient posées, que tout refus de s'exécuter intervenant après une mise en demeure constitue un grief supplémentaire et pourrait à lui seul justifier une sanction et que le procès-verbal consignant les demandes formulées par l'employeur et les réponses écrites du salarié était conservé dans le dossier individuel de celui-ci, la cour d'appel, qui devait en déduire le caractère disciplinaire de cette mesure, a violé l'article L. 1331-1 du code du travail. Reproduced by permission of Bibliothèque de Sciences Po
This study, a part of the PRedicting Occupational biomechanics in OFfice workers (PROOF) study, investigated whether there are differences in field-measured forces, muscle efforts, postures, ...velocities and accelerations across computer activities. These parameters were measured continuously for 120 office workers performing their own work for two hours each. There were differences in nearly all forces, muscle efforts, postures, velocities and accelerations across keyboard, mouse and idle activities. Keyboard activities showed a 50% increase in the median right trapezius muscle effort when compared to mouse activities. Median shoulder rotation changed from 25 degrees internal rotation during keyboard use to 15 degrees external rotation during mouse use. Only keyboard use was associated with median ulnar deviations greater than 5 degrees. Idle activities led to the greatest variability observed in all muscle efforts and postures measured. In future studies, measurements of computer activities could be used to provide information on the physical exposures experienced during computer use.
Practitioner Summary: Computer users may develop musculoskeletal disorders due to their force, muscle effort, posture and wrist velocity and acceleration exposures during computer use. We report that many physical exposures are different across computer activities. This information may be used to estimate physical exposures based on patterns of computer activities over time.
Diversity management has recently attracted a lot of attention in both academia and practice. Globalization, migration, demographic changes, low fertility rates, a scarce pool of qualified labor, and ...women entering the workforce in large scales have led to an increasingly heterogeneous workforce in the past twenty years. In response to those ongoing changes, organizations have started to create work environments which address the needs and respond to the opportunities of a diverse workforce. The implementation of diversity policies and practices and the creation of an organizational culture that values heterogeneity have been the focus of recent organizational initiatives. This special issue aims at shedding light on some of open research questions by including both theoretical and empirical contributions.
The past editor of this series, was an outstanding teacher of business ethics and a longtime chair of the Theology Department at St John's University in New York City. In this title, some of the ...contributions are from his colleagues and reflects his influence as both a business ethics teacher and as a scholar.
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