Biomedical Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
at the end of a shift and during a shift rotation cycle (Matsumoto and
Harada, 1994), as well as on mood (Kaida et al., 2007) and on some of the
operators' cognitive functions, in particular on the risk of making errors
(Bonnefond et al., 2001).
It is also necessary to ensure that the periods of co-presence between
arriving teams and departing teams are long enough to facilitate the shar-
ing of information and the gradual takeover by arriving operators (Le Bris
et al., 2012).
Finally, supporting the construction of experience (practices and skills),
for example, through opportunities to learn, train and reflect together
about the nature of the work, is a primary stake of ergonomic interventions.
Exposing the activity carried out during rotating schedules or night sched-
ules may serve as a starting point to the recognition of the specificities of
various professions during those times, and to the consolidation of learning.
Furthermore, reflective activities (Mollo and Nascimento, this volume) may
contribute to constructing and developing the nocturnal skills of employees
and their capacity for action. To achieve this, however, the work system (the
composition and stability of collectives, the opportunities to think together
about work, the training programs, etc.) should support the construction of
this experience and the possibility of using it at work.
Acting on professional careers and human resources management
As we have seen, some characteristics of work situations can support or
hinder the construction of experience. However, the question is not to
focus exclusively, in a context where professional careers are increasingly
chaotic, on the characteristics of work situations at a given moment, but to
imagine their succession over the years. Time, then, must be understood
not at the level of the company, but at the level of a career; here it is crucial
to adopt a diachronic view.
It is all the more important to study work in rotating and night shifts,
in its relationship with career paths, ageing and the construction of expe-
rience, because the current sociodemographic context is marked by a dual
trend: the ageing of the active population and the increasing prevalence
of atypical and night shifts. These trends should have two consequences:
an increase in the prevalence of atypical shifts (notably night shifts) in
ageing employees - which one can already observe today in France - and
increasingly frequent situations of employees from different generations
working alongside each other. In this context, issues of health and experi-
ence deserve a close scrutiny, and preventive actions should be carried out.
Thus, means of action are not located solely at the level of work situa-
tions, but also at the level of career paths (Prunier-Poulmaire et al., 2011).
These rely in particular on reducing the duration of exposure to work in
