Occupational risk prevention in hospitals based on the Cultural-Historical Activity Theory.

Hospital managers should target occupational risks and harm prevention since this can contribute to the quality of life at work and patient safety. This article aims to elucidate the activity of prevention of occupational risks and injuries in the hospital setting based on analysis of historical and empirical contradictions of the activity system. An exploratory qualitative study grounded in the Cultural-Historical Activity Theory was conducted at a university hospital in the state of São Paulo.

Workers' health policies in Brazil: historical contradictions and possibilities for development.

The Workers' Health (WH) approach understands that it is necessary to expand the object of public policies to transform the work processes that determine the health-disease relationship. This broadening brings challenges that drive the development of the formulation and implementation of policies for the surveillance and prevention of diseases. This article aimed to analyze the development of Brazilian policies on WH from the perspective of historical contradictions.

Learning Platforms for Implementing Formative Interventions to Promote the Health and Safety of Workers in Brazil.

Formative intervention methodologies, such as the Change Laboratory (CL), are increasingly being used in work environments. However, the learning process entailed in the application of these methodologies has received insufficient attention and may be facilitated through the use of learning platforms. We examined the development of learning and training strategies for implementing formative interventions, drawing on the experiences of a research group focusing on workers' health.

Shift work and sex are variants across Karolinska Sleep Questionnaire and the application of linking analysis as a step forward using Item Response Theory.

The frequency of sleep disturbances is considerably higher in the night and shift workers and in females than in day workers and males, respectively. However, a subjective sleep scale must be invariant across these groups, independently of the level of their members on the scale. This study is aimed to test the invariance of the Karolinska Sleep Questionnaire's (KSQ) items by shift work and sex.

Expansion of the object of surveillance for occupational accidents: history and challenges underwent by a reference center aiming at prevention.

The Surveillance System for Occupational Accidents (Sistema de Vigilância em Acidentes de Trabalho - SIVAT) established by Reference Center for Workers' Health (Centro de Referência em Saúde do Trabalhador - CEREST-Piracicaba) in 2003 represents an experience consolidated according to the guidelines formulated by the National Network for Integral Care of the Workers' Health (Rede Nacional de Atenção Integral à Saúde do Trabalhador - RENAST). The present article analyzes the history and development of SIVAT at CEREST - Piracicaba from the perspective of cultural-historical activity theory. The historical data comprise interviews, documents and observations performed by the researchers.

[Work accidents and automatic circuit reclosers in the electricity sector: beyond the immediate causes].

The Brazilian electricity sector has recorded high work-related mortality rates that have been associated with outsourcing, used to cut costs. In order to decrease the power outage time for consumers, the industry adopted the automatic circuit recloser as the technical solution. The device has hazardous implications for maintenance workers.

Anomalies and contradictions in an airport construction project: a historical analysis based on Cultural-Historical Activity Theory.

Large construction projects involve the functioning of a complex activity system (AS) in network format. Anomalies such as accidents, delays, reworks, etc., can be explained by contradictions that emerge historically in the system.

[Model of Analysis and Prevention of Accidents - MAPA: tool for operational health surveillance].

The analysis of work-related accidents is important for accident surveillance and prevention. Current methods of analysis seek to overcome reductionist views that see these occurrences as simple events explained by operator error. The objective of this paper is to analyze the Model of Analysis and Prevention of Accidents (MAPA) and its use in monitoring interventions, duly highlighting aspects experienced in the use of the tool.

[Surveillance experience in the sugarcane sector: challenges in disrupting the perilous "marathon" of the sugarcane plantations].

The sugar-alcohol sector is growing year by year, especially in the state of Sao Paulo where approximately 42.9% of the sugar-ethanol plants are concentrated. The production chain is a subject for concern to public agencies and to civil society by exposing migrant workers to risks arising from the work process.

Migrant labor and wear-out in manual sugarcane harvesting in São Paulo, Brazil.

The scope of this paper is to describe the work of manual sugarcane harvesters, assessing the nutritional behavior and body composition between the beginning and the end of the harvest. A descriptive longitudinal study was made of harvesters in Piracicaba, São Paulo, Brazil, who answered a socio-demographic questionnaire and authorized measurement of Body Mass Index, Body Fat Percentage and Arm Muscle Circumference at three stages. Creatine kinase on the skeletal isoform, C-reactive protein and plasma urea were measured at the end of the harvest.

[From surveillance to work-related accident prevention: the contribution of the ergonomics of the activity].

Work-related accidents are complex phenomena determined by the work organization process, the dimensions of which are usually invisible to surveillance agents. The scope of this paper was a case study based on documentary evidence to analyze and compare the success of an intervention conducted at a meat processing and packaging factory, by focusing on checking health and safety norms in 1997, and incorporating ergonomic concepts in 2008. In 1997, surveillance actions focused primarily on visible risk factors.

Tragedy on grade crossing: driver failure or systemic fragility?

In 2010, an accident occurred in Americana-SP, Brazil, involving two trains and one bus on a Grade Crossing, when 10 people died and 17 were injured including workers. This paper aims to analyze the accident using the Model of Analysis and Prevention of Work Accidents (MAPA). The method provides observation of work, interviews and analysis of documents to understand precedents of the event in the following stages: to understand the usual work from the involved people, the changes occurred in the system, the operation of barriers, managerial and organizational aspects.