Ergonomics as a tool to improve the sustainability of the workforce.

BACKGROUND: The sustainability of the workforce is threatened due to working conditions. One of the reasons for this is an imbalance between the working conditions and the capacity of the workers. OBJECTIVE: The objective of the paper, based on a literature review, is to explore the relationship between two main concepts, beginning with sustainability, and finished with ergonomics. Based on that relationship, determine if ergonomics could be helpful to improve the sustainability of the workforce. METHODS: Literature review was based on two keywords: sustainability and ergonomics. The focus was on create a theoretical path between these two concepts. The literature review draws on 100 journal articles, books, conference proceedings, thesis and reports. RESULTS: The results of the literature review highlights that an ergonomics approach is helpful and appropriate to determine the mismatch between people capacity and system demand. In that sense, the literature review reveals that both disciplines, ergonomics and sustainability, share the same principles and that the mix of both has significant potential. However, the literature also shows a lack of empirical information that proves that potential. CONCLUSION: The review first posits that sustainability principles could be helpful to improve the working conditions, and second, that an ergonomics approach provides information related with working conditions, organizations' problems and the needs of workers that would be helpful to create a sustainability workforce.

On the road toward the development of clothing size standards and safety devices for Chilean workers.

The range of sizes used in Chile for clothing comes from criteria developed in continental Europe, mainly the EN 13402 standard. Any standard adopted by a country should consider the anthropometric dimensions of the user population, particularly to discern the ratio of garments for different size. Consequently, the purpose of this study was to propose standards for the size of clothing based on anthropometric characteristics of a sample of Chilean miners. The study was conducted in 447 male workers. The age and body weight were measured in each workers as well as their percentage of body fat. Anthropometric measurements for garments were made according to the criteria of the European Community (EN 13402-1) and ISO (8559- 1989). Body dimensions for the design of gloves, shoes, helmets and caps, clothes that cover the upper part of the body and clothes that cover the lower part were measured. The results obtained made it possible to establish the percentage of workers falling within the range of sizes that manufacturers consider as reference. One of the main conclusions of the study is the need to carefully consider a set of complementary anthropometric measures, which can help to improve the comfort of costumes, to the extent that the providers adapt their designs to the characteristics of Chilean workers.

Ergonomic study of an operator's work of a molybdenum plant.

This study was part of an ergonomic program which is being carried out through an agreement between the University of Concepción and a Chilean private mining company. The purpose of this case study was to identify working conditions in which the physical and mental workload could be over the capabilities of the operator. He was responsible for loading trucks with sacks of molybdenum and for downloading reagents and handles them. The methods employed in this study included electronic records, interviews, surveys, review of the company standards, a time study and physical and mental workload analysis. Results showed that 84% of the time the operator was carrying out principal and secondary activities and no break periods were detected. It was found that the pace of work and the shift system generated unfavorable conditions by imbalance in the workload on the different days of the week. In the light of the results recommendations were made for a number of ergonomic changes. Most of them were accepted by the company. The most important achievement was a change in the shift system. The overload of the operator was due to the fact that he was in a shift working 5 days and resting on weekends. The imbalance was mainly because the work of the week end was accumulated for Monday. As a result of the study, the company contracted a second worker for this job and adopted a 7x7 shift system, meaning that they work seven days and rest seven days. An evaluation carried out two month after adopting the new shift revealed that changes were well accepted by the worker.

Factors influencing the workload of forest fire-fighters in Chile.

OBJECTIVE: The main purpose of this paper was to explore the environmental factors which are considered to influence the workload of fire-fighters in Chile. METHODS: Work studies were conducted during actual fire fighting in order to synchronise the various activities with cardiac frequency responses. At each fire environmental temperatures were recorded, and as an indicator of the increased demands imposed by the terrain, the slope was measured as well as the type and weight of fuel being burned. Output was evaluated in terms of squared meters of line constructed. The physical characteristics of the workers were assessed and these were related to the work load. PARTICIPANTS: The participants were 149 professional fire-fighters. RESULTS: The results showed that the fire-fighters had a heavy workload. Despite the fact that about 80% of the fires was controlled in less than 30 minutes, the fire-fighters were found to be exhausted after combating each fire. This suggests that they had a significant depletion of their physical energy which in turn led to a drop in the quality of the fire-line by the time the fire was extinguished. CONCLUSIONS: The results indicate the need for promoting more awareness of occupational health factors among the fire-fighters and fire management.

La importancia de la ergonomía para los profesionales de la salud / The importance of ergonomics for health workers

La ergonomía es una multidisciplina preocupada de la adaptación del trabajo al hombre. Su desarrollo es reciente en nuestro medio, existiendo una gran necesidad de que los profesionales del área de la salud incorporen criterios ergonómicos en sus actividades, ya que en el mundo moderno existe un conjunto de patologías que pueden ser desencadenas o agravadas por el trabajo. En estos casos, los tratamientos no son efectivos si no se corrigen las causas que los generan. El artículo presenta una visión conceptual de ergonomía, sus objetivos, campos de acción y los aspectos fisiológicos, psicológicos, biomecánicos, ambientales y organizacionales que la sustentan, destacando su carácter multidisciplinario. Se analiza también sus proyecciones y su utilidad tanto en la adaptación de métodos tradicionales de trabajo como en las tecnologías del futuro.

Caracterización de variables ergo-espirométricas y hemodinámicas en combatientes de incendio forestal / Characterization of ergo-spirometric and hemodynamic variables in forest fire combatants

De los brigadistas forestales se seleccionan al azar 63 trabajadores sin evidencias de patología respiratoria o cardiovascular pertenecientes a 5 brigadas de incendio de la VIII región. Se les sometió a un protocolo de esfuerzo con medición de gases espirados y del gasto cardíaco mediante impedancia torácica. Los objetivos son la caracterización basal de estos combatientes para conocer estos parámetros en trabajadores chilenos de nuestro ambiente forestal y servir de base para la medición luego de una temporada de incendios, entrenamiento y modificación de sus condiciones de alimentación. En un posterior estudio se mostrarán las comparaciones con los efectos del entreanmiento y vida de campamento de incendios. Se muestran los resultados y se analizan correlaciones