Workplace adaptation to people with disabilities at construction industry in Brazil.

Background: Despite the attempts to include people with disabilities at work, the number of such people seeking employment and of those receiving job opportunities remains low.

Objective: The objective was to evaluate the construction jobs of bricklayer, carpenter, steel fixer, painter, laborer 1, laborer 2 and foreman on the construction site of a water supply network so as to determine the profile of workers with disabilities who could perform these jobs and what adaptations are needed.

Methods: The methods used were: direct observation of the activities and the environment, interviews with staff on the site, and a video and photographic record of the tasks, while the software ErgoDis/IBV was used to analyze the jobs.

Methodological proceedings to evaluate the physical accessibility in urban historic sites.

Historic urban sites are set by cultural and social diversities, generating multiple activities and use and access to these sites should be available to all people including those with disabilities. Taking into consideration that using the same methodology that was used in different historic sites researches with positive results facilitates replication, we aimed to develop methodological procedures that identify conditions of physical accessibility in open public spaces and access to public buildings in historic urban sites to support proposals about design requirements for improvements to the problems diagnosed and control inadequacies of the physical environment. The study methods and techniques from different areas of knowledge culminated in a proposal built with an emphasis on user participation that could be applied with low cost and in relatively short period of time.

The deaf and the classroom design: a contribution of the built environmental ergonomics for the accessibility.

In any concept of school design, classroom occupies the central place. Dimensions, lighting, the equipment needed, ventilation are old questions already answered, even in form of laws and standards adopted. However, the best use of available materials and physical conditions of comfort is not sufficient for a classroom design guaranteed success.