Available online at www.sciencedirect.com
ScienceDirect Procedia Manufacturing 3 (2015) 4517 – 4519
6th International Conference on Applied Human Factors and Ergonomics (AHFE 2015) and the Affiliated Conferences, AHFE 2015
Activities triggered by waste generated in steel production: A study from the ergonomics standpoint Sidney Yazigi *, Rosa Yazigi, Fabiano Cruz Porfiro, Renata Cristina de Oliveira Via ERGO: Ergonomics Consulting – Avenida Silva Lobo 1708 sl 04 - Grajaú –CEP 30431- 262, Belo Horizonte,Minas Gerais,Brazil
Abstract The treatment of waste in industrial production creates a sector apart from the production processin which activities are developed with varied ergonomic risks, either in treatment, transportation or disposal of material generated.Using Ergonomic Work Analysis (EWA) methodology, questions were raised about the influence of waste generated in the production of steel and its implications at work.The determining factors for ergonomic risk in a work activity are related to various aspects of theproduction process, the industry’s physical characteristics, the layout of the work area, the types of tools used and work organization. These elements may influence the operating mode a worker adopts.Understanding the variability of activity may allow for taking corrective actions or for design in the workplace, providing better interaction with humans, reduced physical and cognitive overloads which directly influence worker productivity.Therefore, this study highlights the determinants for ergonomic risks, recommending improvements in the work process that are related to adequacy and sustainability in the production process. © 2015 2015 The Authors. Published by © Authors.Published by Elsevier ElsevierB.V. B.V.This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/). Peer-review under responsibility of AHFE Conference. Peer-review under responsibility of AHFE Conference Keywords:Ergonomic risk; Steel production; Waste; Labor organization; Ergonomic work analysis; Sustainability
1. Introduction In recent decades, the steel industry has begun working on sustainability in its processes, adopting cleaner technologies, striving for greater energy efficiency, reducing disposal in the environment and managing its waste with normative and procedural directives. These approaches were considered a point of departure for understanding
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2351-9789 © 2015 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/). Peer-review under responsibility of AHFE Conference doi:10.1016/j.promfg.2015.07.466
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the impact on operational work within this waste-generating sector and, subsequently, in the proposition to create ergonomic analysis of that work. The official definition, approved by the International Ergonomics Association board (IEA) in August 2000, states that ergonomics is a systems-oriented discipline - now extending into all aspects of human activity and professions - that applies theory, principles, data, and methods to design in order to optimize human well-being and overall system performance [1]. Based on the context of facets of the production process and on the organization of work in the steel industry, this article’s objective is to focus on ergonomic analysis of work and its possible contributions to understanding and transforming the work of this specific industrial sector. 2. Methodology The Ergonomic Work Analysis- EWA is well-structured in its general and operational aspects. Its fundamental principle consists of identifying the “real work”, as compared to the formal organizational, highlighting the practical knowledge (know-how, tacit skills) of the actors in a given situation, the criteria that guide their actions, and the conflicting aims that shape their behavior at work. This information instructs the design process, reinforcing the positive ergonomic conditions and avoiding inadequacies. According to Guérin[2], EWA is a tool that deals with the business’s systemic reality, from the optic of work activity. To produce representations of current work, the ergonomist should, therefore, use work analysis approaches. The activity analysis method elaborated by Yves Clot [3] and his team with the goal of proportioning a transformation in work situations, with workers themselves being protagonists of that transformation. The idea is to move the subjects from the position of being observed to that of observers, coauthors in the production of the data collected. Using this context, direct observation of active workers was undertaken with semi-structured individual interviews, as well as taking photographs and filming focused on workers’ activities, their work stations, with consecutive auto-confrontation aiding in the collection of data and the respective analysis of the real task confronting the prescribed one. The distinctive characteristic of good ergonomics is not its data collection tools in the field, but in detailing, the depth and the view of the work. Work is the privileged element, and it is not something impersonal: good ergonomics deals with work and the worker inseparably. If treatment is objectified with little detail, there is not much difference from the methods-time analyst who takes a sampling of work (a technique described in all the pertinent manuals) and manages to quantify various details of activity, including some variability. Without returning to and discussing with the worker the objects and purpose for ergonomic analysis (which is known as “autoconfrontation), this becomes impoverished, as imposition of the analyst’s criteria prevails on the object, with no effective possibility of methodological control – the analysis tends to become sophisticated “methods-times”, resulting in a new prescription defined in an externalized manner for the executor, despite having good intentions[4]. 3. Results and discussion EWA gave evidence regarding the layout of areas where the production process occurs, limiting the worker during execution of his or her activity and waste removal. According to Iida [5], incorrect projects for products and improper work stations can provoke adverse musculoskeletal conditions. The determinants of ergonomic risk evidenced in the activities: x Accessibility and the respective accumulation in the removal of waste for disposal; x Manual movements using a shovel in the removal of waste for disposal x Postural and lifting/holding demands of the load being moved. Therefore, the study gave evidence of the determinants of ergonomic risk, recommending improvements in the work process related to making the productive process adequate. Ergonomic adequations of the processes consist of
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investing in mechanization and changing the layout of the areas, making it possible to eliminate some of the technical actions executed by the worker. An aspect that deserves highlighting in Clot’s theory of action is the centrality given to the worker in producing knowledge about his or her very own work. Using the concept of an expanded scientific community, Yves Clot refers to the worker as a member of a homogenous group of workers, a participating member of the work analysis. In this position as a co-participant, the worker has the possibility of gradually appropriating the questions related to the solution of problems, with the objective of forming practical models for solutions based on his or her experience. In this condition, the group of workers becomes a protagonist in analyzing the professional environment, guaranteeing even the collective validation of results obtained in cooperation with specialists. In his work, the author champions knowledge as action, and experience as central, which is only recognized when it transforms itself [6]. Thus, the results obtained were described and associated with recommendations. Modifications suggested by ergonomicsspecialists and the workers involved were validated by the workers themselves and defined as a plan of action with a chronogram for execution. An item taken as a point of departure for the construction of the this EWA was the Brazilian National Policy for Solid Waste (PNRS in Portuguese)[7], which defines the management of waste as “the set of actions directly or indirectly exercised, the stages of collection, transportation, transshipment, treatment and a final destination environmentally adequate for the solid waste and a final disposition environmentally adequate for the discarded matter”. Therefore, the objective of sustainability in the productive process adds the creation of control of the ergonomic risk, which requires adopting an ergonomic condition adequate for the activities involving the collection and transportation of waste. 4. Conclusion Controlling ergonomic risk in activities triggered by waste generated in production makes evident the concern with and the respective improvement in managing the worker’s health in the steel production process. That concern, however, permeates the objective of sustainability in the steel industry, which, in fact, makes it reflect on the working conditions for that actor in sustainable production.
References [1] P. Béguin, Taking activity into account during the design process. @ctivités,4 (2), (2007) 115-121. [2]F. Guérin et al, Compreender o trabalho para transformá-lo: a prática da ergonomia. Ed. Edgard Blücher, São Paulo, 2001. [3] Y. Clot, A função psicológica do trabalho . Ed.Vozes, Petrópolis, 2006. [4] M.S.Salerno, Análise ergonômica do trabalho e projeto organizacional: uma discussão comparada. ABEPRO, Rio de Janeiro (2000) p.45-60. [5]I. Iida, Ergonomia: projeto e produção. 6a Ed. Edgard Blücher, São Paulo, 1990, p. 466. [6] R.Pimentel, Y.L.M. Bulgacov, D. Camargo, O Conceito de Atividade em Yves Clot: contribuições para o campo dos estudos organizacionais. I Congresso Brasileiro de Estudos Organizacionais - CBEO, Fortaleza, 2013. Retrieved from website http://www.sbeo.org.br/sbeo/icbeo/ [7] Brasil, Política Nacional de Resíduos Sólidos (PNRS): Lei Nº 12.305, de 2 de Agosto de 2010. [8] Sustentabilidade: A indústria do aço no Brasil: Retrieved from website http://www.acobrasil.org.br/site/portugues/sustentabilidade/ sustentabilidade-industria-aco.asp /
