Ergonomics contribution to occupational safety

Abstract

Introduction: while high-risk processes with high accident rates challenge safety, High Reliability Organization (HRO) achieve excellent indicators. In both cases, prevention seems to have reached a limit. In the former, because it seems powerless to generate prevention; in the latter, because it has been so successful that it seems impossible to reach greater levels. Objective: to highlight the contribution of Ergonomics to safety in these situations, pointing out unexplored possibilities such as design Ergonomics in man-machine integration (computerized systems). Method: comparative analysis of findings from ergonomic studies on production systems with high accident rates and HRO. Discussion: analysis of the motorcycle freight drivers’ activity revealed alternatives yet to be explored between unfavorable work relations and the perceived inevitability of accidents. The apparent limit of HRO can be overcome with recent advances in the analysis of situated action and cognition and by building debate spaces based on field experience. Collaborative design practices, which draw on worker experience to feed learning dynamics and technical reliability, remains a poorly explored possibility in Safety Engineering when it comes to computerized systems.