Job Redesign Needs for Aged Workers

The aim of this paper is to explore and present a proposal for redesigning elements of the workplace for agech workers. The method of research was to observe, record, and measure the actions of sitting workers performing assembly operations on electrical products in the Kani Plant Nagoya Works of Mitsubishi Electric Co. (Japan). The evaluation index used in the experiment was obtained by measuring time motion elements, cycle time per product, and motion velocity waves of elderly workers. Those motion characteristics were then compared to the motion characteristics of young workers. The results led to job redesign elements being identified to reduce handling factors of high difficulty for aged workers and to the necessity to consider a coefficient of correction in Method Time Measurement (MTM) according to differences in the manufactured object’s weight.     

Ergonomics and Work Organization: The Relationship Between Tayloristic Design and Workers’ Health in Banks and Credit Cards Companies

Abstract

The discussion developed in this paper is based on the results of an ergonomic work analysis carried out with attendants at call centers. Some critical issues and difficulties, like working pace, inadequate tools and workstations, and software inadequacies were detected in working situations. Operator-customer interactions are presented, attempting to put in evidence working constraints, working conditions, and their connection with health problems.

The main conclusion is that serving clients, especially when the job is to provide information, is not a simple task, as information is not always available in the computerized system and is completely fragmented. The scope of workers’ actions is very restricted and complicated and recurrent requests are redirected to others. Workers (individually or as groups) have limited possibilities to make adjustments to be able to give more adequate and personalized treatment to clients and, at the same time, to work in a less stressful environment. In periods of increased workload and work intensification, the situation is very much favorable to the incidence of health disorders, such as work related musculoskeletal disorders (WMSD) and others. Some suggestions to improve the work situation are discussed.     

A ventilation cooling shirt worn during office work in a hot climate: cool or not?

The aim of the study was to identify whether a ventilation cooling shirt was effective in reducing heat strain in a hot climate. Eight female volunteers were exposed to heat (38?°C, 45% relative humidity) for 2?h with simulated office work. In the first hour they were in normal summer clothes (total thermal insulation 0.8?clo); in the second hour a ventilation cooling shirt was worn on top. After the shirt was introduced for 1?h, the skin temperatures at the scapula and the chest were significantly reduced (p?<?0.05). The mean skin and core temperatures were not reduced. The subjects felt cooler and more comfortable by wearing the shirt, but the cooling effect was most conspicuous only during the initial 10?min. The cooling efficiency of the ventilation shirt was not very effective under the low physical activity in this hot climate.     

The Relationship Between Shift Work Schedules and Spillover in a Sample of Nurses

The aim of the present study was to estimate spillover effects between the work and the family sphere in a sample of nurses (N = 2058). Hierarchical regression analyses investigated whether shift work schedules were associated with negative or positive spillover, both from family to work and vice versa, controlling for demographic factors, job demands and decision latitude. With daytime work as a reference group, all types of shift work (day and evening shift, night shift only and rotating 3 shift) were associated with higher negative work-to-family spillover. Night work was associated with significantly less negative family-to-work spillover. None of the different shift work schedules were related to any type of positive spillover. The results indicate that working outside of daytime hours is less compatible with workers’ family lives, compared to working ordinary day shifts. On the other hand, working night shifts only was associated with reduced negative family-to-work spillover.     

工贸企业安全生产标准化考评结果深层分析方法研究

为弥补工贸企业安全生产标准化以单一总分值衡量企业安全状况存在的不足,构建以集对分析理论（SPA）为基础的联系度函数模型,分析企业考评结果的联系度、集对势、差异度。然后提出将考评结果划分为文件资料、设备设施、安全管理3个模块,细分为15个要素,以帮助企业直观认识其优势与不足。研究结果表明：实验企业通过联系度函数模型的分析结果进一步认识自身安全水平,进而通过对考评结果的深层次分析,直观地找出关键安全防范点,确定下一步安全工作的重点。     

安全生产基础建设继承与创新——近期几起重特大事故的反思

针对近期我国重特大生产安全事故频发、安全生产形势严峻的实际情况,分析了事故多发的特点和原因,认为我国安全生产工作中存在系统脆弱性,其中最突出的问题是基础薄弱,本质上是结构性缺陷。提出当前最紧迫的战略性任务是强化安全生产基础工作的制度化设计与安排。建议：逐渐实现安全生产执法监察“暗查”制度化;事故分级与分级标准中经济损失指标的导向性作用不容忽视;应从制度上保证事故调查客观、独立和公正;建立现代生产安全事故统计系统与指标体系;从制度上加强对企业安全生产的职工参与和社会监督;强化监察员队伍的专业化建设;安全监督应实行安全生产事故风险分级与分级管理。     

谈谈化验中应用工作曲线的几个问题

本文着重论述在化验分析中应有工作曲线中应注意的几个问题供参政。     

江苏地方地震工作业绩量化评析

设定量化考评标准和方法,对江苏地办系统的工作业绩作数值分析,研究了总分的组合构成、优势分布,人才断层、领导行为,经费和人力的投入产出效率,防灾属区的象征性适应能力,给出这些敏感问题的定量结果.     

It is also in our nature: Genetic influences on work characteristics and in explaining their relationships with well‐being

Work design research typically views employee work characteristics as being primarily determined by the work environment and has thus paid less attention to the possibility that the person may also influence employee work characteristics and in turn accounts for the work characteristics–well‐being relationships through selection. Challenging this conventional view, we investigated the role of a fundamental individual difference variable—people's genetic makeup—in affecting work characteristics (i.e., job demands, job control, social support at work, and job complexity) and in explaining why work characteristics relate to subjective and physical well‐being. Our findings based on a national US twin sample show sizable genetic influences on job demands, job control, and job complexity, but not on social support at work. Such genetic influences were partly attributed to genetic factors associated with core self‐evaluations. Both genetic and environmental influences accounted for the relationships between work characteristics and well‐being, but to varying degrees. The results underscore the importance of the person, in addition to the work environment, in influencing employee work characteristics and explaining the underlying nature of the relationships between employee work characteristics and their well‐being. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.