—Work-related injuries and disorders constitute a major burden and cost for employers, society in general and workers in particular. We@Work is a project that aims to develop an integrated solution for promoting and supporting a safe and healthy working life by combining wearable technologies, Big Data analytics, ergonomics, and information and communication technologies. The We@Work solution aims to support the worker and employer to ensure a healthy working life through pervasive monitoring for early warnings, prompt detection of capacity-loss and accurate risk assessments at workplace as well as self-management of a healthy working life. A multiservice platform will allow unobtrusive data collection at workplaces. Big Data analytics will provide real-time information useful to prevent work injuries and support healthy working life

Lean has become the predominant management concept in industry, but its effect on the work environment is debated. Lean has now reached farms and garden nurseries. This paper aims to identify consequences for the physical and psychosocial work environment when Lean was applied in micro-businesses in the agricultural sector. Observations, a questionnaire and interviews were used as methods. It was concluded that the psychosocial work environment became more structured and less stressful. The physical work environment was partly improved by less transportation on the farm. However, consideration of the physical work environment was insufficient.

Farmers operate in a turbulent environment that includes international competition, weather conditions and animal behaviour, for example, and is difficult for them to control. However, economy and productivity always have a high priority. As a consequence, farms have started to implement lean-inspired work systems. At the same time, health and safety are of urgent concern in the sector. This article explores how famers apply lean-inspired work processes. It identifies work environment changes during and after a lean implementation, as well as possible developments in the work environment following implementation of the lean philosophy. Data were collected from three groups: lean, lean-light and development-inclined reference farms (in total 54 farms), using a questionnaire and interviews. The results indicate that a majority of the lean farms were applying several lean principles and tools, and the lean philosophy. The lean-light farms applied parts of the lean concept, while the reference farms applied some of the more general tools, used in lean and elsewhere, such as visualisation in various forms and to various extents. The results showed positive effects of lean on the psychosocial work environment, better work structure and improved information, communication and co-operation. The physical work environment was improved to some extent by lean, where advantages such as a more structured and practical work environment with less physical movements and locomotion could be noticed. The lean concept provided a more structured and systematic approach to dealing with work and production environmental issues, for managers as well as for employees.

Ögonläkare, ögonsjuksköterskor, optiker och annan personal på ögonsjukhus arbetar ofta med synkrävande arbetsuppgifter i dämpad belysning eller helt utan allmänbelysning. Inför den planerade byggnationen av ett nytt ögonsjukhus i Stockholm ca år 2018 gjordes en enkätstudie för att kartlägga ögonbesvär och trötthet hos personalen på S:t Eriks Ögonsjukhus. Studien som är ett multidisciplinärt samarbetsprojekt mellan S:t Erik, Karolinska Institutet och Kungliga Tekniska Högskolan, syftar till att optimera belysning, dagsljusinsläpp och ljusmiljö vid det nya ögonsjukhuset.

Totalt 265 anställda på S:t Eriks Ögonsjukhus samt 60 röntgenläkare och 45 barnläkare, varav de senare två  utgjorde jämförelsegrupper, inviterades till  studien.  Enkäten som distribuerades baserades på synergonomienkäter av Knave och Hemphälä och bestod av 31 validerade frågor om subjektiva ögonbesvär, nuvarande belysning, tillgång till dagsljus och välbefinnande. Ögonbesvären räknades om till ett gruppmedelvärde (ögonbesvärsindex) med avseende på svårighetsgrad och frekvens. Studien är godkänd av Etikprövningsnämnden. 

Nittiosex av 265 (33%) anställda på S:t Eriks Ögonsjukhus hade t o m juni 2012 besvarat enkäten tillsammans med 23 röntgenläkare (38%) och 14 barnläkare (31%). Ögonbesvär som torrhets- och gruskänsla var vanligt förekommande hos alla yrkesgrupper på ögonsjukhuset och generellt vanligare hos kvinnor. Då samtliga grupper jämfördes med avseende på ögonbesvärsindex var skillnaden mellan män och kvinnor statistiskt säkerställd (p<0,05). Röntgenläkarna rapporterade högst ögonbesvärsindex och barnläkarna lägst, skillnaden mellan dessa yrkesgrupper var signifikant (p<0,05). Ögonpersonal och röntgenläkare som rapporterade att de ofta arbetade i mörker, associerade detta med  ökad trötthet i högre grad än  med barnläkarna (p<0,05).

Ögonbesvär var vanliga hos ögonpersonalen inkluderade i studien. Den grupp som arbetade mest i mörker hade mer ögonbesvär än den grupp som arbetade minst i mörker. Kvinnor hade mer ögonbesvär än män. Arbete i mörker ökade den subjektiva känslan av trötthet . Optimala ljusförhållanden och bra synergonomi bör ges hög prioritet vid planering av ett nytt ögonsjukhus.

Eye care professionals spend many hours a day in darkness performing visually demanding tasks. A new eye hospital will be built in Stockholm 2018. The current lighting, logistics, and working conditions are analysed in a multidisciplinary project aiming to optimise settings in the new hospital. The main purpose of the present project was to study visual ergonomics and current eye strain in employees at an eye hospital. Ninety-six employees answered a validated questionnaire regarding their experiences of light, visual ergonomics and eye strain problems. Twenty-three radiologists and 14 paediatricians at a university hospital were used as comparison groups. Eye strain was common in all departments at the hospital but was significantly more common only among radiologists compared to paediatricians. Overall, women experienced significantly more eye strain than men.

Developing bedding products requires consideration of human-product interactions such as usability and quality aspects besides ergonomics and productivity. Previous studies focus on finding associations between discomfort evaluations and physiological measurements of conventional bedding. The purpose of this study is to assess a new bedding system by observing affective and discomfort perceptions, physical loads, and time usage by nursing personnel. Fourteen nursese valuated a conventional and a new bedding system. Results suggest that nurses’ quality perceptions and overall experiences with the new bedding were positive. Considering physical loads the average time and frequency of bending forward were significantly lower for the new bedding versus conventional bedding. The time analysis yielded significant improvements to make a bed with the new bedmaking system. Quality perceptions were associated with tactile qualities (e.g. soft, nice to touch, etc.) and applicability (e.g. quick setup) for both bedmaking systems.

Purpose – This paper seeks to deal with affective design of waiting areas (servicescapes) and has twofold aims. The first, is to explore affective values for waiting areas. The second, is to identify interactions between physical design attributes and affective values.

Design/methodology/approach – This study included a free association method for data collection, applying Kansei engineering methodology to extract design solutions relating to specific feelings. The study was undertaken at six primary health centres in Östergötland County, Sweden. In total, 88 participants (60 patients and 28 staff) were interviewed.

Findings – The selected waiting areas show significant differences for their perceived affective qualities. The most desired feeling for creating affective values is found to be “calm”. The core design attributes contributing to this feeling are privacy, colours, child play-areas and green plants. Good design of lighting, seating arrangements and a low sound level are also important design attributes to give a more complete design solution.

Research limitations/implications – The study provides useful insights for understanding affective needs in servicescapes, and it provides design suggestions. The results have not been analysed separately for gender or different age groups.

Practical implications – The paper proposes a framework model to be applied when dealing with affective values in servicescapes.

Originality/value – This paper makes an original contribution to understand affective values towards the physical environment in servicescape design. It offers a methodology to study complex environments with many alternative design solutions using limited resources. Moreover, this study uses a combination of a free association method and Rough Sets theory in affective design.

The trigger switch mechanisms of nutrunners are important for operators to perceive feedback while tightening bolt joints. Previous studies focus on associations between discomfort evaluations and powered tool operation. This paper addresses how operator preferences are linked with functionality requirements from trigger switch mechanisms. Subjects evaluated five switch mechanism prototypes regarding perceptions of quality, feedback, firmness, and distinctness. Results suggest that loading and unloading phases of trigger operation are significant predictors of perceptions of quality. The trigger switch mechanism with a combination of high peak-drop-bottom forces was perceived with better quality, feedback, and distinctness in comparison to the other mechanisms. The study also revealed that when the switch mechanism was designed to give more distinctness and feedback, higher quality is perceived.

Trigger mechanism design in power hand tools is of great importance for communicating with the operator and for providing feedback on operational functioning. Therefore, for a successful power hand tool design, knowledge about how the trigger mechanism feels is required.

This study aims to define and investigate the design factors related with trigger tactile feeling for electrical right angled nutrunners. A Kansei Engineering (Affective Engineering) study has been conducted for a comparison between users´ (operators that work at an automotive assembly plant) and product developers´ (product development group of a power hand tool manufacturer) to find common and differing semantic expression dimensions for that. 124 Kansei words (descriptors) were collected from literature, interviews and workshops. These words were reduced to 52 by affinity analysis and evaluated by operators and product developers using semantic differential technique.

From the operator group`s responses six factors (explain 87% of variation ) were extracted as, “professional performance”, “safety and tactile feeling”, “usability”, “smooth operation”, ”communication and durability”, “convenient and comfortable” to define trigger feeling. Correspondingly, five factors (explain 89% of variation) “robust and appealing”, “ergonomics and operator performance”, “controllability and predictability”, “creativity and modern” and“powerful” were distinguished for the product development group. Results showed that the start phase and especially quick start of trigger mechanism is more important to operators, while end feedback is more important to product developers. Soft start of the trigger is correlated with ergonomics, optimal, clear operation and performance for product developers while soft start together with end feedback are associated with well-built, convenient and safe trigger characteristics for operators. According to the results from average ratings the Kansei word “ergonomic” has been rated as the most important descriptor for trigger feeling together with “user-friendly”, “easy to use”, “long life time” and “comfortable” for both groups. By developing a questionnaire using the factors and variables identified; this questionnaire can be used to assess views of operators about trigger functioning and to know how do operators feel about new types of trigger mechanisms.

De anställdas upplevelser av hur de kommer att påverkas av ett förändringskoncept är en avgörande faktor för om konceptet kommer att få reellt genomslag eller inte. Det här kapitlet behandlar denna centrala aspekt av leankonceptet – hur personalen upplever leaninspirerade förändringar. Just denna fråga finns det mycket lite empirisk forskning kring, så väl internationellt som i Sverige.

I kapitlet redovisas en studie av personalens erfarenheter från leanarbetet i medelstora svenska tillverkningsföretag som ingått i det nationella programmet Produktionslyftet. Programmet kan ses som ett exempel på en ”svensk tolkning” av lean. Produktionslyftet har fått stort genomslag i den svenska diskussionen om lean, men samtidigt har konsekvenserna av lean ur ett arbetsmiljöperspektiv inte utvärderats på ett genomgripande sätt.

Truck drivers suffer work injuries to a higher extent than most other occupations. The HTO concept and the interaction framework were applied in a pre-study leading to a redesign of a new powered pallet truck. The old truck was evaluated using a literature study, interviews, observations, injury statistics and benchmarking, as part of the HTO analysis. The analyses showed that the driver often stood on the rear part of the platform with the heels outside the platform, making them vulnerable to injury. The injury statistics also showed that drivers of powered pallet trucks had more heel injuries than drivers of other truck types. There were two reasons for this. The steering arm was slightly too long, and the vibration damping was better the further back the drivers stood on the platform. This study led to redesign of the steering arm and platform suspension in the new truck generation. The combination of the HTO concept and the interaction framework supported the analysis in identifying relationships that otherwise would not have been obvious.

Frågan om vilka konsekvenser lean och kvalitetsutveckling får för arbetsmiljö och lärande är avgörande för de anställdas acceptans av dessa koncept, men också avgörande för konceptens systemeffektivitet. Hur dessa samband ser ut har behandlats i ett flertal artiklar (Landsbergis, 1999; Westgaard och Winkel, 2007; Hasle et al., 2012; Adler and Borys, 1994; Adler and Cole, 1995; Appelbaum, 1996). Inriktningen på förändringarna och den kultur som finns i organisationerna synes spela avgörande roll för utfallet. Samtidigt finns det anledning att mera i detalj studera dessa samband. Det finns också studier som har kopplat ihop arbetsförhållanden och lärande. Utifrån definitioner på vad som karaktäriserar det goda arbetet har lärande och möjligheter att utvecklas lyfts fram som viktiga faktorer (Thorsrud, 1969). Detta kapitel syftar till att beskriva olika konsekvenser som kan uppstå för lärande och arbetsmiljö i samband med att organisationer inför lean eller initierar kvalitetsutveckling i sin verksamhet. Ett andra syfte är att koppla dessa konsekvenser till de förändringsansatser som genomförs.

Employee participation in the development and improvement of their own work activities and daily production tasks has been strongly emphasised by the quality movement. From this point of view, the quality perspective, and in particular development work, are supportive of improved working conditions and ergonomics. This paper proposes a classification of development work in relation to participative problem solving. Further, the introduction of development work was found from a theoretical point of view to be consistent with improvement in the characteristics that represent good and rewarding work. Several empirical studies in the field confirm that improvements in work and company performance take place as a result. There is also criticism of development work, which largely focuses on the difficulties of integrating such concepts into organisational structures and of making developments long-lasting. In addition, stress, intensification of work and increased pressure are also mentioned as possible harmful outcomes. It is concluded that the development work concept is an important innovation with great potential, but the organisational models and applications need to be further developed for the future.

Lean has become a dominating change concept in Sweden and in other countries. It has been discussed whether Lean is a support or an obstacle for improvement and innovation. The aim of this paper is to identify examples, opportunities and obstacles for improvement and innovation within the framework of Lean. Cases from 30 organizations have been analyzed. The empirical examples and also literature show that it is possible to work with Lean or Lean principles in a way that arenas of innovation and improvement are created, but that in other organizations this does not happen.

There is a need for more ergonomics intervention studies. Reasons are that the knowledge about applications as well as methodology need to be developed (Karsh et al., 2001) It is difficult for ergonomics researchers to get access to organizations that perform interventions. One reason is that extensive resources are needed from the organizations. In order to ollaborate with the researchers, they need to see this collaboration as useful and that they get useful advice or knowledge that can be applied in their operations. Interactive research is a form of participatory research (Aagaard Nielsen and Svensson, 2006), that may offer a solution to the difficulties to perform ergonomics intervention research. Interactive research has been developed from Action research in order to avoid the weaknesses of Action research, such as: - the strong involvement of the researcher in the practical change process makes the change vulnerable in the long-term, - a focus rather on local understanding than in general knowledge creation, - high time and resource demands, - limited output in terms of theory development. Interactive research focuses more on the research and knowledge creation than on the development processes. The research is conducted in a partnership with the practitioners so that the researchers and practitioners together have defined research questions of high priority. Further, the planning of the study as well as the knowledge creation process takes place jointly together with the practitioners (Svensson et al., 2007). There is a clear division of responsibilities, where the interactive researcher is only responsible for the research, and the practitioners only responsible for the implementation of the operational changes and actions taken in the organization. One model for the principles of interactive research was proposed by Ellström et al. (1999), which clarifies the different roles of the practitioners and the researchers. The aim of this paper is to summarize experiences from the use of interactive research in five ergonomics intervention programs.

SUMMATIVE STATEMENT 

There is strong evidence that insufficient ergonomics cause quality deficiencies in production. Despite this, it has not yet been accepted that ergonomics is an important production factor. Reasons for this situation and possible actions are discussed.

PROBLEM STATEMENT 

The scientific literature reports many examples of relationships between ergonomics and quality. However, this knowledge has not been sufficiently systematized for ergonomics to become generally accepted as a production factor.

RESEARCH OBJECTIVE

The objective of this paper is to summarize different perspectives on the relationship between ergonomics and quality, and to discuss the formation of this knowledge on a generalized level.

RESULTS

There is a large number of studies and reviews that have identified strong relationships between the quality performance of individuals and different ergonomics aspects such as light, noise, vibration, ventilation, climate, cognition and physical ergonomics. Further, there are also a large number of studies that have identified a relationship between ergonomics and quality output for the organization in different production settings. There are also examples when causality has been shown. All together, this evidence point to that good ergonomics is a precondition for quality performance, in other words an important production factor.

DISCUSSION

The strong relationship between ergonomics and quality might be accepted within the ergonomics discipline, but not as a production factor and not in working life. TQM and Lean address quality and some aspects of work design as important production factors. There are many reasons why it is not generally recognized that ergonomics is an important production factor. Some of them might be that the research literature is not explicit on this point, the ergonomics knowledge is not spread to the production discipline, and that ergonomics is seen an additional luxury for the employees, provided when the economy of the organization is sufficiently strong. Still another reason might be that there are also examples of how ergonomics improvements can be shown to be unprofitable for the organization.

CONCLUSIONS  

A large number of research studies show strong evidence that insufficient ergonomics cause quality deficiencies in production, both on an individual and on an organizational level, confirming that ergonomics is a production factor. It is a problem that this knowledge is not formed, disseminated and accepted by production engineers and managers.

Background and purpose

Lean has been implemented to varying degrees in different organizations and in different branches. Mass-producing manufacturing industries were early in this respect, and later followed by e.g. healthcare, authorities and municipalities. Presently, some stores are implementing Lean-inspired working methods. The purpose of this paper is to identify different ways of working with and implementing Lean in stores.

Methods

The methods used were case studies in 9 stores. The stores were visited and data were collected through observation of working methods and artefacts in the stores, interviews were conducted with employees and managers, and a questionnaire was answered by a sample of those working in the stores. Finally, documents were collected and photographs were taken.

Results

A few stores worked according to some the principles of Lean, and other stores had implemented some of the Lean tools. Other stores had statements of the values for the organization on display. Continuous improvement and 5S were two commonly used tools. Visualisation by using whiteboards and KPIs were also applied in several stores, and daily meetings between the store manager and the employees were also taking place in a few stores. Waste reduction has been used for a long time in stores handling fresh food, as well as substantial work in order to improve the logistics. These are aspects that Lean include, but were present in the stores before Lean was introduced.

Discussion with practical implications

Few examples of a long-term Lean tradition exist. Disseminating good examples that are also good for the work environment of the employees could support a more holistic way of working with Lean and improve working conditions in the future.

Conclusions

The use of Lean in stores is under development, and several stores have started to introduce Lean-inspired working methods, such as Continuous improvement, 5S, customer orientation, visualization, daily whiteboard meetings and waste reduction.

An interactive research approach was applied in an evaluation of a potential organizational change for mail carriers. Interviews and observations were performed. The results showed that specialization of mail carriers into either mail sorting or mail delivery would lead to more monotonous jobs. Observations showed that sorting mail in a new district takes substantially more time than in a well-known district. An interactive research approach creates a participative collaboration between employers, union representatives and researchers within a project. This influences the choice, planning and execution of methods, of which observation is one. Through the interactive discussions, the planning of how, who, when and where to perform the observations can be improved. This contributes to creating better opportunities to obtain valid results. The use of video recordings enables joint analysis, which contributes to higher acceptance of outcomes and results. The overall conclusion is that the combination of an interactive approach and observation methods is a way to improve both methodological validity and higher validity of the results in addition to higher acceptance of the results and subsequent decisions.

Musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) constitute a major health problem for employees, and the economic consequences are substantial for the individuals, companies and the society. The ageing population creates a need for jobs to be sustainable so that employees can stay healthy and work longer. Prevention of MSD risks therefore needs to become more efficient, and more effective tools are thus needed for risk management. The use of smart work clothes is a way to automate data collection instead of manual observation. The aim of this paper is to describe a new smart work clothes system that is under development, and to discuss future opportunities using new and smart technology for prevention of work injuries. The system consists of a garment with textile sensors woven into the fabric for sensing heart rate and breathing. Tight and elastic first layer work wear is the basis for these sensors, and there are also pockets for inertial measurement units in order to measure movements and postures. The measurement data are sent wireless to a tablet or a mobile telephone for analysis. Several employees can be followed for a representative time period in order to assess a particular job and its workplace. Secondly, the system may be used for individuals to practice their work technique. The system also gives relevant information to a coach who can give feedback to the employees of how to improve their work technique. Thirdly, the data analysis may also give information to production engineers and managers regarding the risks. The information will support decisions on the type of actions needed, the body parts that are critical and the emergency of taking action.

Lean production has become a major change strategy in Swedish public organizations. The aim of this paper was to identify factors that support or counteract sustainability and development of Lean implementations in public organizations. In an interactive research project including interviews and questionnaires, seven public organizations were followed during a three year period. Some factors supported and other factors counteracted sustainability and development of Lean. In conclusion, lack of sustained change was to a  large extent due to replacement of the top managers in five of the organizations and introduction of another change philosophy, low political and managerial ownership and financial problems.

Lean is introduced in industry as well as in the public sector. Previous research has criticized Lean for creating bad working conditions. Also sustainability of organizational changes is claimed to be low. The aim of this chapter is to describe consequences for working conditions and sustainability as a result of implementations of Lean in manufacturing industry and in the public sector. A second aim is to give examples of the type of knowledge produced in an interactive research approach and to discuss the use of interactive research when implementing Lean. Two programs for implementing Lean were assessed through interactive research. The research showed that there is a huge variation between organizations regarding how Lean is interpreted, how it is implemented, and also regarding the outcomes. The majority of the employees in the manufacturing companies experienced that Lean meant improved working conditions, e.g. more participation, learning and development. However they also experienced more stress and repetitive work. For the public organizations, the employees experienced on average that the working conditions had deteriorated. Sustainability of the changes was also substantially lower than for the manufacturing companies. The interactive research approach enabled deep access to a broad sample of organizations and contributed to better relevance and validity of the research results.