Our study was carried out in winegrowing in France and relates to the prevention of pesticide exposure situations. During treatments, the sprayer is a technical determinant directly responsible for these situations because of its design. The objective of our study is to gain a better understanding of pesticide exposure situations during the use of sprayers, by identifying the design of these machinery and the regulations that apply to it as a chain of determinants.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: The number of seasonal workers in the agricultural sector in France is increasing and their working conditions are difficult and disgraceful. While they have been shown in various studies to be subject to processes that result in them being unable to act on occupational health, some of them, mobilized online, have formed a collective whose is permitted them to develop collective actions.
Objectives: Our article aims to describe this online collective and how the power to act emerged from the discussions.
This article brings together works on the concept of constructed safety in ergonomics, carried out over the last twenty-five years. Firstly, we situate this approach to safety in relation to previously developed existing models (e.g.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIn many industrial sectors, workers are exposed to manufactured or unintentionally emitted airborne nanoparticles (NPs). To develop prevention and enhance knowledge surrounding exposure, it has become crucial to achieve a consensus on how to assess exposure to airborne NPs by inhalation in the workplace. Here, we review the literature presenting recommendations on assessing occupational exposure to NPs.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Industry 4.0 generates risks renewing stakes for design projects integrating work activities, as can be done in activity centred ergonomics and participatory ergonomics.
Objective: This article aims to show the contribution of using typical situations to define requirements for Industry 4.
Objective: Although apple trees are heavily sprayed, few studies have assessed the pesticide exposure of operators and workers in apple orchards. However, these data are crucial for assessing the health impact of such exposures. The aim of this study was to measure pesticide exposure in apple growing according to tasks and body parts.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjective: Ultrafine particles (UFPs) are generated from common work processes and have thus existed for a long time. Far more prevalent than engineered nanoparticles, they share common toxicological characteristics with them. However, there is no existing retrospective assessment tool specific to UFPs, for example, for epidemiological purposes.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: In a context where preventive measures are developed via a functionalist and technological approach, the aim of this work is to set out general principles and methods for new preventive solutions that will enrich these existing measures.
Objective: We propose an approach centered on the involvement of workers at all hierarchical levels around "intermediary objects" of prevention in order to foster a collective debate. This might provide empowered workers to be actors into their own prevention of risk faced.
Skin exposures to chemicals may lead, through percutaneous permeation, to a significant increase in systemic circulation. Skin is the primary route of entry during some occupational activities, especially in agriculture. To reduce skin exposures, the use of personal protective equipment (PPE) is recommended.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFExposure assessment is a critical point for epidemiological studies on pesticide health effects. PESTEXPO study provides data on levels of exposure and their determinants in real conditions of pesticide use. We described levels of exposure in vineyards during treatment tasks (mixing, spraying and cleaning) and we analysed their determinants.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThis paper presents an ergonomic intervention in the petrochemical sector. The scheduled shutdown of one of the gas production sites has led the management to reduce the number of personnel on site, and then to get new recruits and experienced technicians from other sites as the policy for leaving personnel had not been properly planned, resulting in understaffing on site. Workers with seniority on the site, and who are also the most experienced do not accept the way newcomers are induced on site, whereas the management accuses them of resisting change.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe use of pesticides is one of the techniques employed in modern agriculture and in particular in intensive agriculture. The risks for the environment and for worker health have been debated in western countries for about ten years. Recent developments in epidemiology, toxicology and ergotoxicology have clearly revealed that pesticides could harm the health of farmers (cancers, neurological diseases and reproductive disorders).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe purpose of this article is to present the contribution of a trans-disciplinary approach focused on ergonomics and chemical risk control. We shall more precisely discuss how such an approach carried out in the field of agricultural work has made it possible to highlight serious shortcomings in the effectiveness of the coveralls that are supposed to protect vineyard workers from pesticides. The study results, as well as the whistle-blow that followed have questioned the control and prevention measures used until then.
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