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Virtual reality (VR) training offers the capability to industrial workers to acquire skills and address complex tasks by immersing them in a safe and controlled virtual environment. Immersive VR (IVR) training is adopted in many diverse settings, yet little systematic work currently exists on how researchers have applied it for industrial skills training and if it holds the potential to be applied remotely. In this review, 78 representative studies were analysed to answer three key questions: Is IVR an effective training method for industrial skills training? How is research in this field applied? And how can we make IVR training more effective and applicable for remote training? We can testify that IVR is a promising training method with high effectiveness scores. However, our analysis has uncovered several gaps in the application of IVR training, like the lack of learning theories in the design process and limited metrics beyond time and scores. Additionally, our review also exposed unexplored but intriguing avenues of research, like the utilisation of biosensors for users' data collection, haptics that increases realism and applications with remote training potential. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Health scientists have claimed that urban transit workers suffer from higher rates of stress-related disease than workers in most other occupations. This paper examines how a network of scientists and labor organizers constructed the problem of transit worker stress as a global phenomenon. According to study participants, transit workers worldwide are subject to a similar set of stress-related risks, which can serve as a basis for worker solidarity. This paper analyzes how the concept of stress has been used to identify pathogenic environments and considers anthropological claims that the concept often abstracts and depoliticizes harmful arrangements. The findings show that scientists and labor organizers use the stress concept to construct a figure of a universally at-risk transit worker that serves the ends of transnational labor organizing. At the same time, by focusing on the case of San Francisco's transit workers, this analysis shows that a persistent association between stress and 'hard work'—in both lay and scientific discourses—may block recognition of stress-related harms for transit workers who are accused of being lazy and overpaid. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this paper is twofold: to explore the factors influencing the emergence and growth of informal e-waste activities and to examine workers' motivation for involvement in informal e-waste activities. Semi-structured interviews and observations among actors in the recently established Dagomba-Line e-waste site in Kumasi, Ghana were employed to gather relevant data. Emergence and growth of e-waste activities are largely influenced by spatial, political, socio-cultural and economic factors. The reuse and open disposal of e-waste are the common practices due to the cost of transportation to a final disposal site. Similar to findings at the well-established Agbogbloshie e-waste site, also in Ghana, scavengers are found at the bottom of the e-waste financial ladder. The major motivating factor for engaging in e-waste handling is poverty. Additionally, some respondents mentioned the lucrative nature of the activity, landlessness, and peer influence as a motivation. The results showed that younger workers (below 35 years) were more likely to be engaged in the activity for reasons of peer influence and poverty and major source of livelihood. The paper recommends that policy and planning should reflect ways of delivering and creating stable socio-economic conditions that promote an inclusive and sustainable development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the era of smart factories, digital twin may be a key for improving ergonomics analyses related to manual assembly activities. The use of digital technologies can help in bypassing some biases related to observational methods and speeding up the ergonomics analyses. This paper proposes a framework based on the development of a digital environment for carrying out ergonomics simulations of complex working systems in which a number of workers and other variables have to be considered for ergonomics evaluation. Based on such framework, a case study considering heterogeneous workers in a manual car assembly system has been analysed, and the impact of the implementation of different job rotation strategies has been studied. The tool is demonstrated to be effective in evaluating the physical ergonomic risk of a large number of configurations, and the results highlighted that proper job rotation strategies may affect the final scores of the considered indices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Issues surrounding migration are receiving unprecedented attention at the global, regional, as well as national levels. However, a review of the literature shows that there is more focus on international migration compared to internal migration. Further, there is more emphasis on issues related to the migration destination rather than those at the source of migration. Using the cultural preparation process model as a framework, this paper aims to understand the career and livelihood planning needs of those who are left behind. The left-behind families of pine resin tappers in the Changar region of the Indian Himalayas are presented as a case study to draw the attention of career guidance and counselling professionals to this unattended population. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Conversation and dialogue are used as a central process within youth work. Whilst much has been written about the micro-skills of conversation, less attention has been paid to the philosophical realm. This paper examines how dialogue in youth work can be deepened when juxtaposed with the philosophies, principles and theories of conversation. Using qualitative and phenomenological methodologies, this study involved 32 youth workers from across Northern Ireland, in focus groups (N = 8) and interviews (N = 24). The findings illustrate how youth workers perceived dialogue in their practice, pointing to the connections with relationship-building, the development of critical consciousness and the equalizing of power. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Companies across the globe have intensified the digital interconnectedness of their manufacturing processes. Much attention was devoted to how industrial employment will be affected in this new production paradigm. In this paper, we use survey data collected from German industrial workers in 2014 and 2020 to contribute to the literature on digitalisation and industrial employment. This is the first scientific study on Industry 4.0 that empirically deals with the development of key parameters of industrial employment over time. Our findings support the argument that whilst increased digital interconnectedness creates more opportunities for highly skilled workers, the extent to which manual workers will be substituted is often overestimated. Second, our data suggests that the operations of larger companies tend to be more highly digitally interconnected than those of smaller firms. We also provide evidence that German industrial workers are less likely to expect substantial job losses through digitalisation than in 2014. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Most of the literature on absenteeism suggest that absence from work is a complex issue influenced by multiple causes, both of personal and of organizational nature. Job satisfaction has also been identified as one of the factors affecting an employee's motivation to work attendance. There is no universal agreement concerning the relationship between absenteeism and job satisfaction. Some research have found no correlation between these two variables, whereas other studies indicate a weak relationship between these two variables. It has also been suggested that absence and job satisfaction might be more strongly related under some conditions, for instance in the case of blue-collar workers. There is a lack of attention in the literature, however, to injury-related absenteeism, which is a particular type of absenteeism. This paper attempts to fill this gap and examines the effect of job satisfaction on injury-related absenteeism by using Greek and UK data. The empirical results suggest that there is a negative relationship between injury-related absenteeism and job satisfaction. The paper also discusses possible policy measures towards reducing injury-related absenteeism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study three possible determinants of the increase in the ratio between skilled and unskilled workers are tested together: R&D, organisational change, and foreign direct investment. After analysing the literature, these hypotheses are jointly tested using a SUR estimate. The results - regarding a panel of 488 Italian manufacturing firms over the period 1989-1997 - suggest the statistical significance of the impact of organisational change, while they tend to exclude a direct relation between R&D spending and skill upgrading. With reference to FDIs, the nature of the data and the results do not permit the exclusion of their possible influence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Industrial upgrading in China is rapidly increasing the competence requirements for employees on the shop floor. The institutional environment in China, however, does not seem very supportive: the quality of vocational education is often low and Chinese labor law provides strong incentives for companies to use temporary labor. This paper examines the competence development practices for blue-collar workers in automobile companies in China. Against expectations, automobile companies in China do not pursue ‘low road’ strategies but have designed intensive internal training programs and long-term career paths for blue-collar workers. Different theoretical explanations for the competence development approaches are discussed: human capital theory, high-commitment work systems theory, production systems theories, industrial relations and institutionalist theories. The paper is based on qualitative case studies of German, Japanese and domestic automobile manufacturers in China. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Many blue-collar jobs, most of which are performed by men, are likely to be displaced by automation. These workers will, therefore, need to be retrained and reskilled, many of them choosing for engineering education as mature students. This paper uses Interpretive Phenomenological Analysis to draw a complex portrait of the experience of blue-collar men studying engineering as mature students in Denmark. We found that the participants faced considerable challenges in their engineering studies: they brought baggage from a challenging youth, from family traumas and educational failures; they felt alienation and cynicism about the world and saw their own possibilities for progress thereby limited; and they experienced difficulties with the contents and the process of the engineering curriculum. However, they persisted with faith in engineering education as a gateway to a better life and a sense of social responsibility as future engineers. The study concludes that more pro-active university support systems would alleviate the difficulties faced by such students. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Humorous joking, teasing, and banter are fundamental forms of social intercourse. This paper is about the role and effect of ‘humour’ in multiethnic blue-collar workplaces. Humour delineates boundaries of group membership, establishes insiders and outsiders, and offers a ritual solution to ambiguity and liminality, tension and social unease. Humour is Janus faced though. Historically, it has been a central tool of the racist; a way of expressing disgust and hatred with an exit strategy: ‘just joking’. This paper draws on these themes to consider findings from a large comparative study of ‘Everyday Multiculturalism at Work’ which compares workplaces in Singapore and Australia. The essay focuses on blue-collar male-dominated Australian workplaces and explores the role and function of interactional humour in mediating, reinforcing, and overcoming boundaries of racial and ethnic difference in a context of forced ‘encounter’. I consider both the positive, ludic qualities of humour as well as its negative dimensions and further situate the discussion in terms of certain forms of Australian working class masculinity. I offer the concept of‘convivial labour’ to describe the work that goes into negotiating interactional humour frames in multi-ethnic settings of forced encounter. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

In recent years, human workers in manual assembly lines are increasingly being supported by the deployment of complementary technology. Collaborative robots (or cobots) represent a low-threshold opportunity for partial automation and are increasingly being utilised by manufacturing corporations. As collaborative robots can be used to either conduct tasks in parallel to the human worker or collaborate with the worker on an identic task, industrial planners experience an increasingly complex environment of assembly line balancing. This contribution proposes three different decomposition approaches for Benders' decomposition algorithms exploring the multiple possible partitions of the formulation variables. We evaluate the performance of the algorithms by conducting extensive computational experiments using test instances from literature and compare the findings with results generated by a commercial solver and a metaheuristic solution procedure. The results demonstrate the Benders' decomposition algorithms' efficiency of finding exact solutions even for large instances, outperforming the benchmark procedures in computational effort and solution quality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The neoliberal reforms of the early 1990s in Colombia, mainly labour and social security reforms, transformed capital-labour relations and contributed to the erosion of working conditions and health protection at work, with devastating impacts on workers' health. In the context of these dramatic changes, Colombian workers mobilised around collective identities that have shaped new forms of workers' struggle and resistance. Since 2006, associations of workers suffering work-related illnesses have been active in Colombia. The associated workers engaged in collective actions have demanded from employers, the Ministry of Work, occupational risk administrators, disability rating boards and the judicial system the recognition of certain diseases as being of occupational origin and that these entities guarantee corresponding labour, economic and social security rights. This paper describes and analyses the dynamics of the struggle for the right to health at work undertaken by these associations in Colombia, adopting an analytical perspective inspired by collective action theory. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: The nutrition of construction workers is related to their health and safety (H&S) at work. Research on the factors influencing construction workers' food choices and overall nutrition is limited, in South Africa and indeed Africa as a whole. The present paper aims to develop and validate a questionnaire on factors influencing construction workers' food choices. Design: The study adopted a quantitative approach; 42 items, divided into six constructs, were used to develop a field-survey questionnaire after a detailed literature review. Setting: The study was conducted on eight construction sites (consisting of five building construction and three road construction sites), chosen through heterogeneity sampling, in Midrand, Centurion, Johannesburg and Samrand. Subjects: Participants included construction workers actively involved in site activities. Outcome measures: Principal components analysis (PCA) was conducted to examine the structures and validity of the constructs. Cronbach's alpha test and mean inter-item correlations were used to examine internal consistency reliability. Results: After repeated factor analysis, the questionnaire on food-choice factors revealed seven different factors: food context, biological factors, nutritional knowledge, personal ideas and systems, economic factors, resources and cultural background. These factors explained 60.09% variance. Cronbach's alpha coefficients ranged from 0.62 to 0.85, signifying good internal consistency reliability. Conclusion: The determinants of construction workers' food choices are vital considerations when designing and implementing nutrition interventions in the South African construction industry. Future research can adopt the instrument and developed model when conducting psychometric evaluations of construction workers' food-choice determinants. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we examine discourse in public deliberations in pre-development locales in the UK and US about advantages and disadvantages of future shale development ('fracking'). We aimed to understand how people anticipate potential health effects, broadly construed, of environmental toxicity and disturbance in the context of planned, but not yet implemented, energy development. In day-long deliberations with small, diverse groups in two cities in each country (London, Cardiff in the UK; Los Angeles, Santa Barbara in the US), participants discussed impacts on health and well-being using three main rubrics: 'It's money or health', 'Why take chances?' and 'Beyond the tipping point'. Throughout, participants framed health as an intrinsically moral issue, with collective responsibility as a dominant normative frame. We identify the concept of compound risk to underscore effects of multiple risks and hazards on people's sensibilities about anticipated future health and environmental harm. The findings demonstrate how and why diverse publics in pre-impact sites in both countries saw shale extraction as high stakes development that poses significant, often unacceptable, risks to human and environmental health and well-being. Risks extended beyond toxicity to broad threats to health, including, for some, the end of life as we know it on the planet. Overall, participants' discussions of health were more connected to social categories and their underlying moral principles than to technological details. This work contributes evidence of blurred boundaries between environment and health as well as the importance people place on social risks in the context of proposed energy system change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent publication of a seminal paper analyzing variation in upward and downward mobility rates should alert social scientists to the possibilities for quantitative research in this intricate field. Like most trail-blazing papers, the analysis is subject to evaluation and a critical analysis at this point may stimulate further profitable research. The comments on the cover five problems. Although it is said that the upward and downward mobility rates used in the paper now under discussion classify farmers as manual workers, this rule is not easily followed. The top panel groups those nations in which the original data, reported farm sons and fathers separately from urban workers. Four studies did not separate farm from urban workers, but placed farmers in a low prestige category. It was decided to use all available nations by including farmers and grouping them with non farm workers. However it is difficult to use the same data and compute mobility rates identical to those obtained especially broken out in the original data. The efforts to reconstruct the identical data resulted in six different upward and six different downward rates.

This paper describes the appearance and subsequent disappearance of ‘Barrow Man’ and uses anthropological and social psychological theory to examine the socio-cultural, psychological and economic conditions for the existence of the phenomenon. It argues that these conditions were the result of both specific local labour market circumstances and of the effects of global political changes, and argues that to talk about ‘Barrow Man’ as if it was a psychiatric diagnosis was to identify a moral construct as a mental disorder. It also argues that at the same time the phenomenon was expressive of certain core values that were not readily acknowledged in everyday clinical practice and that it might therefore best be understood as an institutional category. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper is an account of a small scale exploratory study about the use and value of football metaphor as a device for facilitating therapeutic work. It is based on an evaluation which used a range of qualitative and quantitative approaches. In this paper, we selectively draw on the qualitative data to provide examples to inform our discussion. We illustrate various ways in which football metaphor can support therapeutic change: by aiding initial engagement, facilitating mutual support, enabling self-understanding and motivating change. We relate our analysis to the literature about the therapeutic value of metaphor and highlight the salience of using football metaphor in a group-based setting for men who are often seen as ‘hard to engage’ in therapeutic support. With some caveats, we argue that football metaphor offers a potentially rich and flexible therapeutic resource. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The professional work of small animal veterinary staff encompasses a wide diversity of demanding tasks. This has prompted a number of studies covering physical, chemical, biological, ergonomic, or psychological hazards, as well as their health effects upon veterinary workers. However, such results were obtained from self-reported surveys (via paper or online). This study reports the identification of potential hazards and provides a risk assessment of 15 veterinary clinics based on data from walk-through surveys, interviews with workers, and quantification of indoor air quality parameters including concentration of volatile organic compounds (total, isoflurane, and glutaraldehyde). The risk arising from X-ray exposure was unacceptable in seven clinics; X-ray examination should be discontinued in the absence of isolated radiation rooms, poor safety practices, and lack of personal protective equipment. Ergonomic-related hazards and work practices should be revised as soon as possible, considering that improper postures, as well as moving and lifting heavy animals are major causes of musculoskeletal disorders. The risk levels were, in general, small or medium (acceptable) with regard to exposure to physical hazards (such as bites, scratches, cuts, and burns) and biological hazards. It was observed that the indoor air quality parameters including temperature, respirable particulate matter and total volatile organic compounds do not indicate a comfortable workplace environment, requiring clinics' attention to keep the safe environment. The veterinarians and nurses were exposed to isoflurane (above 2 ppm) during surgery if an extractor system for waste gas was used instead of a scavenging system. Finally, veterinary workers did not possess any type of training on occupational safety and health issues, even though they recognized its importance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents the findings of a qualitative study of the impact of casualised and independent contractor work place arrangements on the psycho-social health of 72 workers in regional Victoria. It contributes to our understanding of the crisis in rural Australia in its use of qualitative methods focusing on the impact of work on health and well-being. There is some evidence in the literature that casualised work arrangement enhance the health and well-being of workers by giving them a sense of autonomy and freedom to negotiate their conditions of work. On the other hand, these arrangements may make an already vulnerable group even more vulnerable to uncertain work conditions, poor pay and uncertainty for their future with a significantly negative impact on their health and wellbeing. The results of these interviews support this latter perspective and show that these workers do not experience freedom and autonomy, but rather lowered social status, insecurity and serious limitations to their ability to manage their health, psychological wellbeing and social relations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: This paper presents a new cognitive assistive technology, nonlinear contextually aware prompting system (N-CAPS) that uses advanced sensing and artificial intelligence to monitor and provide assistance to workers with cognitive disabilities during a factory assembly task.Methods: The N-CAPS system was designed through the application of various computer vision and artificial intelligence algorithms that allows the system to track a user during a specific assembly task, and then provide verbal and visual prompts to the worker as needed. A pilot study was completed with the N-CAPS solution in order to investigate whether it was an appropriate intervention. Four participants completed the required assembly task five different times, using the N-CAPS system.Results: The participants completed all of the trials that they attempted with 85.7% of the steps completed without assistance from the job coach. Of the 85.7% of steps completed independently, 32.5% of these were completed in response to prompts given by N-CAPS. Overall system accuracy was 83.3%, the overall sensitivity was 86.2% and the overall specificity was 82.4%.Conclusions: The results from the study were positive in that they showed that this type of technology does have merit with this population.Implications for RehabilitationIt provides a concise summary of the importance of work in the lives of people with intellectual disabilities and how technology can support this life goal.It describes the first artificially intelligent system designed to support workers with intellectually disabilities.It provides evidence that individuals with intellectual disabilities can perform a work task in response to technology. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper compares female and male workers' informal organization in blue-collar workplaces. We examine whether females and males organize themselves in a similar or dissimilar fashion. Because little research has been devoted to this subject, we suggest tentative answers and issue a call for further research. The high visibility of research that has been done on informal organization obscures the fact that there is so little of it. Moreover, few researchers have studied female factory workers. A review of relevant research suggests the importance of the labor process itself in determining the shape of informal organization. Female workers seem to organize informally around questions of production in much the same way as male workers. The paper concludes with a discussion of the range of research questions yet to be addressed both in terms of the actual labor process of factory workers and comparative issues between female and male factory workers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Portable chainsaws are associated with substantial risk and can cause serious injury to operators, especially during kickback. This paper presents new results from research and analyses conducted regarding the impact between the different properties of wood on this occurrence. In an open area, such differences may include: wood species, humidity, temperature and the facing angle of the wood fibres in relation to the kerf and shape of the wood surface that comes in contact with the tip of the guide bar. This paper investigates chainsaw kickback including the research results on kickback and wood-cutting energy, saw chain speed and the efficiency of the chainsaw engine. It also presents conclusions drawn from the tests that can be useful for chainsaw users, showing the dependencies between the different properties of wood and the risk of injury. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we discuss (Manley, D., and R. Johnston. 2014. ‘London: A Dividing City, 2001–11?’City18 (6): 633–643) intervention into recent debates on London's contemporary class structure. We find that Manley and Johnston show evidence to support many of the claims we have previously made, providing further support against the argument that London has become increasingly a middle-class (Butler, T., C. Hamnett, and M. Ramsden. 2008. ‘Inward and Upward? Marking Out Social Class Change in London 1981–2001.’Urban Studies45 (2): 67–88) and/or professionalized (Hamnett, C. 2004. ‘Economic and Social Change and Inequality in Global Cities: The Case of London.’The Greek Review of Social Research113: 63–80) city. Yet Manley and Johnston's accounting of class change in London also requires critical consideration. We argue their description of London as static in terms of class change has to be read extremely carefully, since such descriptions can obscure the vast population shifts that have occurred in London over recent decades. We also question the extent to which a concern with class antagonism is absent from their intervention. In conclusion, we reflect on what recent talk of London's social class composition means for working-class politics. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper addresses the question of whether adopting safety culture improves hazard prevention in enterprises characterized by high primary risk. To answer this question, sample underground coal mines were examined to investigate the basic elements of the safety culture of employees. This paper presents the results of a diagnosis of the basic elements of the safety culture of supervisors (midlevel managers) and blue-collar workers in 3 underground coal mines. The study used 2 techniques: a Likert-type scale and a questionnaire. The results indicate the need to introduce changes in the safety culture of underground coal mine employees. This study also presents the conditions for improvement. Special attention was paid to (a) the conditions for improving safety culture and (b) a programme for modifying risky behaviours. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Food delivery platform work is a relatively new phenomenon in Finland and has not been studied widely hence limited knowledge on its work environment. The aim of this study was to explore and understand its psychosocial work environment in the Helsinki region and how it relates to the mental wellbeing of its couriers. Methods: The study draws its findings from 20 semi-structured, in-depth interviews with food delivery platform workers in Helsinki. Data were approached through thematic analysis where the six phases of thematic analysis were meticulously followed. Results: Food delivery platform work provided couriers with income and labour market opportunities. However, its work environment was psychosocially burdening, which posed detrimental challenges to the mental wellbeing of its couriers. Conclusion: Study findings indicated that food delivery platform workers worked in an onerous work environment, which accentuated their occupational mental health. Thus, this study recommends future longitudinal research that would examine the association between food delivery platform work and mental health of couriers working through such platforms. Also, interventions and policies that aim at improving its psychosocial work environment are required for a more decent and healthier work environment that enhances mental health and wellbeing of its couriers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Due to demographic change, especially in Germany, society and the labour market have to face new challenges. While the group of elderly workers grows, their sustainability will become more important in future (Höhn, C., Mai, R., & Micheel, F. (2008). Demographic change in Germany. In I. Hamm, H. Seitz, & M. Werding (Eds.), Demographic change in Germany: The economic and fiscal consequences (pp. 9–33). Berlin: Springer; Dittrich, D., Büsch, V., & Micheel, F. (2011). Working beyond retirement age in Germany: The employee's perspective. In R. Ennals & R. Salomon (Eds.), Older workers in a sustainable society. Frankfurt am Main: Peter Lang), hence the focus of our study are older people as one potential workforce. Especially in combination with an ageing population and a later entrance into the labour market, a future shortfall of active workers can be assumed. Germany – as one example of such countries – has only a limited number of options that policy makers and companies can use in the coming decades. The aim of the paper is to analyse the German labour market and derive a typology of older workers within the subgroup of blue-collar workers. The typology uses the level of motivation and work abilty (low, medium and high) for clustering proxy. The older age group is too heterogeneous, and therefore the factor age is not a good proxy. With the help of the study, it is possible to identify, classify and enhance the motivation of workers at the end of their career. Finally, powerful recommendations for companies on how to involve and motivate elderly workers for longer periods of employment can be derived. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper deals with the recruitment strategies of employers in the low-skilled segment of the labour market. We focus on low-skilled workers because they are overrepresented among jobless people and constitute the bulk of the clientele included in various activation and labour market programmes. A better understanding of the constraints and opportunities of interventions in this labour market segment may help improve their quality and effectiveness. On the basis of qualitative interviews with 41 employers in six European countries, we find that the traditional signals known to be used as statistical discrimination devices (old age, immigrant status and unemployment) play a somewhat reduced role, since these profiles are overrepresented among applicants for low skill positions. However, we find that other signals, mostly considered to be indicators of motivation, have a bigger impact in the selection process. These tend to concern the channel through which the contact with a prospective candidate is made. Unsolicited applications and recommendations from already employed workers emit a positive signal, whereas the fact of being referred by the public employment office is associated with the likelihood of lower motivation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ground-based high voltage electrical line inspection is one of the difficult and highly dangerous job as far as a manual worker is concerned. The transmission line inspection by robots avoids temporary interruption of power supply that affects the end user and transmission grid. Also, robot-based inspection reduces maintenance cost and hazards. The electrical line inspection is normally carried out using binoculars and rarely by helicopters in most of the countries because of the low cost. Wire traversing or aerial robots are being used in Japan, Canada, USA and Russia for inspecting and monitoring faults in transmission lines and towers. However, most of these robots require a lot of human effort for installation due to its weight and complex design. Cost of these robots is also very high. This paper presents the mechanical design, fabrication and testing of a novel, low cost, light weight and compact power transmission line inspection robot. This work also includes kinematic, static and dynamic analysis of various subsystems of robot. Proposed robot is capable of traversing on straight transmission line and jumper cables present in tension towers. The robot has 10 DoF dual arm for crossing operation and a base system to achieve the locomotion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the significant impact of the 2008-2009 global recession on blue-collar workers in the U.S. The authors noted that the so-called Great Recession has increased unemployment, underemployment, hidden unemployment and other forms of labor underutilization. A research paper from the Center for Labor Market Studies, "Blue-Collar Depression," indicated updates on these issues. Blue-collar workers comprise of primarily four groups of occupations: construction and extraction occupations; installations/maintenance and repair crafts; production workers; and, transportation operatives.

This paper analyses whether foreign direct investment (FDI) has contributed to employment generation in Mexico's non-maquiladora manufacturing sector. Drawing on highly disaggregated FDI and employment data, we estimate dynamic labour demand functions for blue and white collar workers, including FDI as well as its interaction with major industry characteristics. FDI has a significantly positive, though quantitatively modest impact on manufacturing employment in Mexico. This applies to both white collar and blue collar employment. The employment enhancing effects of FDI are larger in export oriented industries. In more capital-intensive industries, the employment effect of FDI remains positive for blue collar workers but not white collar ones. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As the growth of the public houses has become static within the UK the government has been looking at different ways in which they can strategically expand the market, of which one is the 24-hour drinking legislation. The 24-hour drinking legislation has been operative in the United Kingdom for just over one year now and this article looks at how a chain of public houses has adopted this legislation into their day-to-day running of the business. The paper also discusses the types of consumer's who frequent the public houses at the new trading times and in particular, with the aid of consumer behaviour theory and in particular the PIECE model, discusses the process in which these consumer's go through. The main conclusions denote that shift workers, the unemployed, and blue collar workers all use these premises at the new trading times. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Wages in industrialized countries have risen considerably during the last 50 years, whereas hours worked, for manual workers at least, have decreased only marginally. In Europe, one policy response has been to attempt to protect workers from pressure to work long hours by placing legal restrictions on the amount of hours that may be worked each week. This paper examines the possibility that, in fact, observed hours may be the result of a desire of workers to work longer due to a shift in their preferences from leisure to increased consumption, caused by the huge increase in mass media advertising. A cointegrating VAR framework is used to test this hypothesis on UK time series data for both males and females from 1952 to 1997. Advertising is shown to be positively associated with hours worked for both male and female series. Causality tests indicate unidirectional causality, for males and females, from advertising to hours worked. These results suggest that the European policy response is more likely to restrict employee rather than employer discretion over hours. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Artificial intelligence raises important social and ethical concerns, especially about accountability, autonomy, dignity, and justice. We focus on the specific concerns arising from how the emerging autonomous vehicle (AV) technology will affect professional drivers. We posit that we must engage with stakeholders to understand the implications of a technology that will affect the stakeholders' lives, livelihoods, or wellbeing. We conducted nine in-depth interviews with professional drivers, with at least two years of driving experience, to understand the ethical and societal challenges from the drivers' perspective during the predicted widespread implementation of AVs. Safety was the most commonly discussed issue, which was mentioned by all drivers (17 times by truck drivers and 18 times by Uber/Lyft drivers). We find that although drivers agree that AVs will significantly impact future transportation systems, they are apprehensive about the prospects of reskilling for other jobs and want their employers to be straightforward in how the introduction of AVs will affect them. Additionally, drivers dismiss the suggestions that driving jobs are unsatisfying and potentially unhealthy and thus should be eliminated. These findings should be considered seriously in decision-making about questions of socioeconomic justice, and could be useful to policymakers as they shape relevant regulations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyses the philosophy and practical implementation of two special undergraduate programmes offered by the Open University of Israel (OUI) to socially and educationally disadvantaged populations. One programme is offered to the community leaders of the national project for renewal of the most disadvantaged neighbourhoods of Israel. Another programme is designed to upgrade the overall level of education of blue-collar workers in co- operation with the General Labour Federation (Histadrut). Many of the participating students in both programmes have not graduated from high school. Special preparatory courses were developed that focused on basic learning-skills as well as on fundamental academic subjects. After a six-month pre-academic preparatory programme the students undertake degree-level courses. Although special assistance is provided to these students during the learning process, their assignments and final examinations are evaluated according to the same criteria as those used for the regular students. The discussion focuses on the question of whether both values of equality and quality could be achieved in higher education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the notion that blue-collar workers have been converting from working-class to middle-class orientations as a consequence of gains m income and education over the past few decades. Cross-sectional analysis of survey data for white workers and spouses reveals that a considerable manual-nonmanual subjective class schism persists when remaining differences in income and education are taken into account. The gap is maintained both by an adherence to working-class identification among blue-collar workers at all socioeconomic levels and by a weaker tendency for these workers, compared with white-collar workers, to use income and educational status as criteria for self-placement in the class system. Longitudinal analysis further indicates that embourgeoisement among blue-collar workers has been slight and suggests that the manual-nonmanual gap in class orientations is widening. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In a recent paper, John Kwoka Jr examined the effects of industry concentration, plant size and unionization on the wages of blue collar workers in US manufacturing. He criticized earlier studies that had investigated the relationship between wage rates and the structure of labour product markets for 'deficiencies in model specification and problems of variable measurement' which he argued 'have not produced altogether consistent results (1983, pp. 251-7). He argued persuasively, that because plant size, concentration and unionization are likely to be interrelated, their effects on wages will only be disentangled if these variables are included separately in a wage equation, along with an interaction term between concentration and unionization and a vector of labour quality variables. The interaction term is included to test for the possibility that union relative wage effects are greater, the greater the degree of concentration (see Lewis, 1963, p. 160). The labour quality variables are included to allow for the possibility that the monopoly wage effect is, in part, a result of the higher quality of workers in concentrated industries (see Weiss, 1966, pp. 96-117).
This paper reports on an attempt to test the applicability of Kwoka's propositions to skilled and semi-skilled manual workers in British manufacturing in 1980, using data at the level of the establishment. There are a number of important differences between the United States of America and Great Britain which made direct comparisons between the two sets of results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Workers, particularly outdoor workers, are among the populations most disproportionately affected by climate-related hazards. However, scientific research and control actions to comprehensively address these hazards are notably absent. To assess this absence, a seven-category framework was developed in 2009 to characterize the scientific literature published from 1988–2008. Using this framework, a second assessment examined the literature published through 2014, and the current one examines literature from 2014–2021. The objectives were to present literature that updates the framework and related topics and increases awareness of the role of climate change in occupational safety and health. In general, there is substantial literature on worker hazards related to ambient temperatures, biological hazards, and extreme weather but less on air pollution, ultraviolet radiation, industrial transitions, and the built environment. There is growing literature on mental health and health equity issues related to climate change, but much more research is needed. The socioeconomic impacts of climate change also require more research. This study illustrates that workers are experiencing increased morbidity and mortality related to climate change. In all areas of climate-related worker risk, including geoengineering, research is needed on the causality and prevalence of hazards, along with surveillance to identify, and interventions for hazard prevention and control. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Making informed financial decisions is crucial to the wellbeing of Chinese migrant workers. Using interview survey data (N = 329), this study examined financial knowledge and behaviors of migrant workers in China. Results showed that participants demonstrated low levels of financial knowledge (51.4%) and beneficial financial behaviors (51.0%). Multivariate results indicated that a modest proportion of the variance in financial behaviors was explained by financial knowledge, attitudes, and socio-demographic characteristics (e.g., marital status and income). Findings underscore the importance of disseminating culturally-relevant educational interventions to financially at-risk, low-paid migrant workers in China. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The adverse effects on the health of the Chornobyl nuclear power plant accident clean-up workers have been reported previously. However, there is a lack of studies on the mental health of Chornobyl clean-up workers. The current study explored psychological distress in a sample of Lithuanian clean-up workers 35 years after the accident. In total, 107 Lithuanian Chornobyl clean-up workers (Mage = 62.5) and 107 controls were included in the study. The Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HAD) was used for the assessment of anxiety and depression. The depression symptoms were significantly higher in the clean-up workers compared to the control group. The prevalence of severe depression symptoms was 23.4% and 4.7% in the Chornobyl clean-up workers and control groups, respectively. The risk for severe depression was associated with Chornobyl clean-up work (adjusted OR = 5.9). No differences in the anxiety symptoms were found between clean-up workers and controls. The study revealed the deteriorated mental health of the Lithuanian Chornobyl clean-up workers 35 years after the disaster – in particular, high levels of depression. Psychosocial support programmes for clean-up workers should be provided to mitigate the adverse effects of the disaster. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examined the associations between PM (2.5 and 10) and global DNA methylation among 100 e-waste workers and 51 non-e-waste workers serving as controls. Long interspersed nucleotide repetitive elements-1 (LINE-1) was measured by pyrosequencing. Personal PM2.5 and PM10 were measured over a 4-hour work-shift using real-time particulate monitors incorporated into a backpack. Linear regression models were used to assess the association between PM and LINE-1 DNA methylation. The concentrations of PM2.5 and PM10 were significantly higher among the e-waste workers than the controls (77.32 vs 34.88, p < 0.001 and 210.21 vs 121.92, p < 0.001, respectively). PM2.5 exposure was associated with increased LINE-1 CpG2 DNA methylation (β = 0.003; 95% CI; 0.001, 0.006; p = 0.022) but not with the average of all 4 CpG sites of LINE-1. In summary, high levels of PM2.5 exposure was associated with increased levels of global DNA methylation in a site-specific manner. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this paper is to discuss findings from an analysis of accidents in concrete construction companies in Spain and to compare the accident rates of qualified and non-qualified workers. A total of 125,021 accidents between 2003 and 2008 involving both blue-collar and white-collar workers were analysed, comparing the variables of occupation, age, company staff, length of service, location of the accident, together with the severity of the accidents. Results showed that lack of experience in the first month is more significant in non-qualified workers and experienced supervisors and that head injuries are more likely to lead to fatalities. The most remarkable similarity was that fatal accidents to and from the worksite are a problem common to both groups of workers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: For many people living in low-income countries, poverty implies an increased exposure to conditions that threaten health and wellbeing as well as reduced capacity to maintain health. Despite the challenging conditions caused by poverty, people may consider themselves healthy because they have learned to cope with their situation probably as a result of life experiences which expose people to both challenges and potential solutions. In this paper we present results from studying health and wellbeing challenges and mechanisms to cope with challenges among two different groups of people who are living under conditions of poverty: workers of the Cameroon Development Corporation (CDC) and students of the university of Buea and the university of Yaoundé. Methods: We performed a cross-sectional study, interviewing 21 CDC workers and 21 students. Results Our study reveals context-specific stressors emerging from poor work conditions and study pressure as well as non-context-specific stressors perceived by respondents as living conditions, poor healthcare and financial uncertainty. Respondents devised coping mechanisms to overcome exactly those stressors such as searching for additional money sources, preventive action towards hazardous living conditions and alternative medical support. Conclusion: We conclude that supporting and promoting such avenues is essential for enhanced and continuous coping with stressors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a model that quantifies the causal relations among safety variables (latent variables) and workers' safety behavior (indicator) using statistical data and hypotheses obtained from construction workers and existing literatures, respectively. The safety variables that affect workers' safety behaviors are identified from existing studies and operationalized to measure their causal relations with the workers' behaviors. The model identifies the directions and degrees of the effect of every latent variable on the other latent variables and the indicator. Survey questionnaires were administered to construction workers in South Korea. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses, Cronbach's α and structural equation modeling were performed to test the causal hypotheses using SPSS 18.0 and AMOS 18.0. This study provides the theoretical model that predicts construction workers' safety behavior on construction sites using path diagram and analysis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Assumptions about time, value, labour, and health coalesce in the policy decision to extend the pension eligibility age in Australia from 65 to 67 years. Acknowledging the multiple, often incompatible ways in which time is conceptualised and experienced, we question the expectation of extending Australians' working lives. Drawing on semi-structured interviews with 19 male and female bus drivers over the age of 55 in Australia, we illustrate that older blue collar workers may accumulate chronic health conditions that not only limit their ability to maintain the strict time-discipline required to remain in the workforce, but also introduce demands on their time beyond paid employment (including those required for the management of chronic health conditions). Poor health, and the multiple ways in which it constrains labour participation and time, fosters diverse, unequal, and uneven experiences of the final years of work for these blue collar workers, which may not allow them to meet the policy expectation to work until the age of 67. We argue that by failing to acknowledge the long-term health effects of blue collar work and its work-limiting bodily effects, raising the pension age devalues industrial work histories and manual labour. Finally, acknowledging the social milestone of retirement, we question the moral dimensions of extending the pension eligibility age. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A prosopographical survey employed statistical analysis of data detailing the origins, occupations, prior affiliations, political careers and destinations of the 66 leading Communists who served on the Central Committee (CC) of the Communist Party of Great Britain (CPGB) during the Comintern's Third Period, 1928–1934. There was significant innovation in composition: consonant with transformed politics, around 62% of CC representatives were newcomers, turnover accelerated significantly compared with 1923–1927 and the Old Guard was discarded. The committees were younger, although mean age only declined from 37 to 34 years, and female representation more than doubled. The CC remained overwhelmingly working-class – slightly more than in earlier years – with strong representation from skilled manual workers and miners. Only a small minority met the Comintern prescription that the committee be revitalised by electing factory militants; by the end of the Third Period, 90% of members were paid party workers. Short-term change failed to produce an enduring renewal of the Communist leadership. Some 75% of Newcomers during the 'Class Against Class' years failed to survive beyond them as CC representatives, with negative implications for the construction of an experienced cadre. A core of 12 who served before, during and after the Third Period was reinforced by 10 Newcomers who continued in the leadership after 1934. In succeeding decades, none of them challenged in prominence and prestige the core of leaders in place prior to 1929. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The main aim of this paper was to identify job stressors, gender responses and association of psychosocial work stressors with prevalence of work related musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) among foundry workers. The data were obtained with ergonomics checklist using Likert scale. The results of this study showed a high prevalence of MSDs among workers. The male workers were more prone to pain in neck while the female workers were more prone to MSDs in upper back and shoulders. Correlation analysis showed significant relationship of dimensions of work aspects with pain and discomfort. It proved that the work-related MSDs are the results of interaction of multiple stressors associated with work and work environment, and other personal factors. ANOVA indicated that the perception of work aspects as stressors differed significantly between male and female workers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Isocyanates, the essential cross-linking chemicals used to make polyurethane, are potent sensitizers and a common cause of occupational asthma. In addition, isocyanate (NCO) skin contact may contribute to the development of isocyanate asthma. Prior work has shown that unbound NCO can persist on recently spray coated auto body parts after appearing dry. The purpose of this study was to assess whether isocyanate skin exposure can result from handling such surfaces. Quantitative surface and skin wipe sampling for total NCO was performed on test panels sprayed with aliphatic isocyanate coatings, and on paired skin samples obtained from participants who had rubbed the recently dried surfaces. Surface and skin samples, obtained from 18 workers in five auto body shops, were prepared following NIOSH method 5525 (modified for skin samples), and isocyanate species derived from hexamethylene diisocyanate and isophorone diisocyanate were analyzed using high-performance liquid chromatography with ultraviolet and fluorescence detectors. Quantifiable unbound NCO species were detected on 84.2% of all sprayed surfaces sampled after initially considered dry. Only 7 out of a total of 104 (6.7%) non-compounded skin samples obtained after contact with the recently dried coatings had detectable quantities of free NCO. The 7 positive samples, all obtained at the initial sampling time (t0), had a geometric mean of O. 016 µg NCO cm-2 (range: 0.002-0.88 µg NCO cm-2). Only I of 12 (8.3%) of skin samples obtained after compounding contained detectable free NCO. The risk of substantial human isocyanate skin exposure from contact with the dry appearing (yet not fully cured) isocyanate coatings evaluated in this study appears to be low, although other isocyanate coatings and tasks may pose a greater risk of NCO skin exposure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]