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To link to full-text access for this article, visit this link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.apergo.2008.04.001 Byline: Alexis Descatha (a)(b)(c)(d), Yves Roquelaure (e), Sandrine Caroly (f), Bradley Evanoff (g), Diane Cyr (a)(b)(c), Jean Mariel (h), Annette Leclerc (a)(b)(c) Keywords: Musculoskeletal disorders; Questionnaire; Physical exposure surveillance Abstract: We evaluated the agreement between a questionnaire and an observational checklist for exposure assessment in the setting of an upper-limb work-related musculoskeletal disorders (UWMSD) surveillance program in a population with a high level of physical exposures. Author Affiliation: (a) INSERM, U687, Saint-Maurice, F-94410, France (b) Universite Paris XI, IFR69, Villejuif, F-94807, France (c) Faculte de Medecine Paris-Ile-de-France-Ouest, Universite Versailles-Saint Quentin, France (d) Occupational Health Department, Poincare Teaching Hospital AP-HP, Garches, France (e) Laboratory of Ergonomics and Occupational Health, Angers, France (f) Laboratory of Ergonomics 'CRISTO', Grenoble, France (g) Division of General Medical Sciences, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, USA (h) Occupational Health Service of Anjou, Angers, France Article History: Received 25 May 2007; Accepted 2 April 2008

• Complexity of incidents is as important as severity for road-tunnel operating. • Internal and external cooperation is a key factor to contain critical incidents. • Collective anticipating and improvising are essential skills for safety management. • Critical incidents technique is relevant to study collective work for safety. In road tunnels, learning from experience is mainly focused on major events that occur in tunnels. But the management of traffic incidents or technical incidents is part of the daily work of Control Room supervisors and tunnel patrollers. Based on 17 individual interviews conducted with the critical incident technique (Flanaghan, 1954), our paper aims identifying the critical situations that professionals face, collecting and analyzing the safety practices and the cooperation practices deployed by each professional group to improve safety organization and learning from experience in the company. Our results show that critical incidents for the operators are mostly common action situations, but in complex or dynamic environment. The nature of accounted critical incidents is very much related to the profession and type of activity. As supervisors play a key role in incidents detection and psychological support for patrollers, patrollers use resource management and anticipation strategies to control the danger and contain event. The analysis revealed also the impact of tunnel user behavior on operators' activity as a source of disruption. Critical incident narratives underscore the fundamental role of cooperation when it comes to anticipating and regulating critical incidents, within each professional group but also on a cross-disciplinary and inter-organizational basis. Then, we will discuss how these results can be used to improve learning from experience, operators' skills and collective activity organization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highlights: [•] Methodological paper of management fire: method of pivot point. [•] Knowledge of behavior of users in tunnel fire and the difficulty to perceive risk. [•] Strategies to evacuation, difficult to collective action, means of prevention. [•] The effect of environment on human behavior. [•] The recommendation on safety in tunnel fire. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Few studies have analysed the association between the organisational work environment and depression in hospital workers and we still have little understanding of how processes in the practice environment are related to depressive disorders. However, individual perception of an imbalance between efforts made and expected rewards has been associated with incident depression. The main goal of this study was to test the hypothesis that some organisational constraints at the work-unit level may be related to depressive symptoms in hospital workers, either directly or through individual perceptions of effort–reward imbalance (ERI). In 2006, 3316 female registered nurses and nursing aids working in 190 work units in seven French university hospitals, recruited from the baseline screening of an epidemiological cohort study (the ORSOSA study), responded in 2006 to valid self-report questionnaires (CES-D, ERI). The organisational work environment was assessed with the self-rated Nursing Work Index – Extended Organisation (NWI-EO) aggregated at the work unit level. Multilevel models were used. We found that poor relations between workers within work units were associated with higher CES-D score, independently of perceived ERI. Low level of communication between workers in the unit was associated with individual perceptions of ERI and indirectly associated with depressive symptoms. Understaffing and non-respect of planned days off and vacations were associated with perceived ERI but these organisational constraints were not associated with depressive symptoms. Our study allowed us to identify and quantify organisational factors that have a direct effect on hospital workers’ depressive symptoms, or an indirect effect through perceived ERI. Better understanding of the effect of organisational factors on health through perceived ERI would provide targets for successful interventions. Organisational approaches may be more effective in improving mental health at work and may also have a longer-lasting impact than individual approaches. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

At the 2018 IEA conference, the Gender and Work Technical Committee organized three symposia with over 20 presentations. Overall, these contributions positioned ergonomics as a theoretical and pragmatic approach developing innovative methods to integrate sex/gender analysis into the construction and evaluation of interventions. This special issue of Applied Ergonomics includes diverse approaches to the consideration of sex and gender in ergonomics, including methods in accident analysis, musculoskeletal disorders, work-family interactions, work schedule analysis, prevention programs and evaluation of interventions. The contents are summarized in this introduction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: The present study was aimed at investigating road users’ perceptions and behaviors in case of a fire in a tunnel. It is grounded on the idea that in order to effectively prevent accidents and fires in tunnels, it may be useful to take tunnel users’ beliefs, representations, and coping strategies into account [Kouabenan, D.R., 1998. Beliefs and the perception of risks and accidents. Risk Analysis, an International Journal 18, 243–252; Kouabenan, D.R., 2001. Management de la sécurité: rôle des croyances et des perceptions. In : Lévy-Léboyer, C., Huteau, M., Louche, C., Rolland, J.P. (Eds.), RH: Les apports de la psychologie du travail. Les Editions d’Organisation, Paris, pp. 453–474; Kouabenan, D.R., Cadet, B., 2005. Risk evaluation and accident analysis. Advances in Psychology Research 36, 61–80; Kouabenan, D.R., Dubois, M., Scarnato, F., De Gaudemaris, R., Mallaret, M.R., 2007. Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus Aureus Risk Perception by Healthcare Personnel in a Public Hospital. Social Behavior and Personality, 35, 1] One hundred and fifty-one road users (firemen, truck drivers, regular drivers, and driving-school students) filled out a questionnaire measuring their perceptions of risks and control in road tunnels, their awareness of safety and rescue devices, their level of anxiety, and their behavioral intentions in the event of a fire in a road tunnel. The results indicated a relationship between fire-risk perception, awareness of rescue and safety devices, and road-tunnel experience; a tendency toward comparative optimism (CO); an effect of perceived control on optimism; and a relationship between CO and awareness of safety devices. A significant interaction was found between tunnel users’ anxiety level and their perceived control over the situation. The evacuation behaviors and coping strategies reported by the participants were far from reflecting the expected behaviors. Recommendations for a long-term prevention policy bearing jointly on beliefs, behaviors, improved information and warning systems are suggested. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The aim of this study was to identify forms of work organization in a French region and to study associations with the occurrence of symptomatic and clinically diagnosed shoulder disorders in workers. Workers were randomly included in this cross-sectional study from 2002 to 2005. Sixteen organizational variables were assessed by a self-administered questionnaire: i.e. shift work, job rotation, repetitiveness of tasks, paced work/automatic rate, work pace dependent on quantified targets, permanent controls or surveillance, colleagues' work and customer demand, and eight variables measuring decision latitude. Five forms of work organization were identified using hierarchical cluster analysis (HCA) of variables and HCA of workers: low decision latitude with pace constraints, medium decision latitude with pace constraints, low decision latitude with low pace constraints, high decision latitude with pace constraints and high decision latitude with low pace constraints. There were significant associations between forms of work organization and symptomatic and clinically-diagnosed shoulder disorders. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Background: Quality of care, job satisfaction and the health of registered nurses (RNs) are associated with their exposure to psychosocial and organisational work factors (POWFs). Objectives: To develop and validate an extended version of the Revised Nursing Work Index (NWI-R), the NWI-EO (Extended Organisation) tool specifically designed for occupational physicians and those involved in prevention programmes in healthcare institutions to assess the perception of POWFs, and then to determine priorities for preventive action to improve work organisation at the hospital staff level. Methods: The tool was validated in the ORSOSA study, a multicentre French cohort of RNs and NAs (n =4085) recruited in 214 work units of 7 French university hospitals. A total of 34 items (19 candidate items developed by a focus group and 15 items from the NWI-R) were analysed using principal component analysis (PCA) based on a randomised split-half of the data. In addition, construct validity, test–retest reliability, internal consistency and concurrent validity were assessed. Results: Response rate was 91%. Twenty-two items were selected (9 of the 15 NWI-R items and 13 of the 19 candidate items) by PCA, resulting in an 8-factor solution that explained 53% of the common variance. The stability of the factorial structure of this 22-item NWI-EO questionnaire was confirmed by PCA on the other half-sample as well as by PCA on subgroups (age, gender, occupational group, specialty area, hospital). Reliability, assessed by internal consistency and test–retest, was satisfactory. Concurrent validity with two external measurements of organisational characteristics of work units was also observed. Conclusion: The NWI-EO was found to have good psychometric properties. Several POWFs accessible to prevention programmes can be evaluated with this tool: poor communication in the work unit, lack of support from senior nurses, inadequate staffing to perform duties, poor relationships between workers, frequency of interruptions during tasks, low level of shared values within the team with regard to work, lack of support from the administration, and changes in planned vacations and time off. We believe the NWI-EO is a useful tool for assessing POWFs among RNs and NAs in order to determine priorities for preventive action to improve work organisation at the unit level. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]