Category Archives: Time management

A Case Study about Heavy Physical Work Under Time Pressure

Abstract: The increased generation of garbage has become a problem in large cities, with greater demand for collection services. The collector is subjected to high workload. This study describes the work in garbage collection service, highlighting the requirements of time, resulting in physical and psychosocial demands to collectors. Ergonomic Work Analysis (EWA) – a method focused on the study of work in real situations was used. Initially, technical visits, global observations and unstructured interviews with different subjects of a garbage collection company were conducted. The following step of the systematic observations was accompanied by interviews conducted during the execution of tasks, inquiring about the actions taken, and also interviews about the actions, but conducted after the development of the tasks.

Introduction: In modern society, the increase in consumption was accompanied by increased generation of garbage. In the year 2006, at the city of Salvador , which had a population of 2,892,625 inhabitants, 1,373,322 tonnes of garbage were collected, 53% of which from domestic solid waste and street sweeping [5]. This increasing production of garbage has become a problem in large urban centers, leading to increased demand for public garbage collection services. In such a system, the garbage collector is an important actor, and his body is turned into a tool used to carry garbage [19]. In scientific literature about the garbage collector activity, the predominant focus is on workplace accidents and exposure to occupational hazards. Keep reading…