Recorded presentation

Karen Messing, Ph D, CINBIOSE, Université du Québec à Montréal, CP 8888, Succ. Centre-ville, Montréal, QC H3C 3P8, Canada, 514-987-3000, messing.karen@uqam.ca, Geneviève Rail, Ph D, École des sciences de l’activité physique, Université d'Ottawa, Faculté des sciences de la santé, 451, chemin Smyth, Ottawa, ON K1H 8M5, Canada, Sylvie Fortin, Ph D, Département de danse, Université du Québec à Montréal, CP 8888, Succ. Centre-ville, Montréal, QC H3C 3P8, Canada, and Maude Randoin, LL B, Département des sciences juridiques, CP 8888, Succ. Centre-ville, Montréal, QC H3C 3P8, Canada.

Despite regulations providing for access to seats, a majority of the Québec, Canada working population have no access to seats and work standing. Among them are service workers such as cashiers and sales workers who, by and large, work in a confined area where sitting is theoretically feasible. In many other countries in Europe, Africa, Latin America and Asia, such service workers have access to seats at work. Problems in the quantitative studies arise because constrained standing is not distinguished from walking. Therefore links between posture and cardiovascular and musculoskeletal problems are hard to make. We have undertaken a program of research involving physiological, epidemiological and interview studies. In a qualitative approach, thirty young female and male service workers who usually worked standing were interviewed about their perceptions and experiences of prolonged standing at work. All but one experienced discomfort or pain associated with their working posture, and 21 reported that they had changed their lifestyle in some way as a result of their symptoms. However, workers, who often had a precarious employment status, were reluctant to threaten their relationship with the employer by asking for a seat. Their accounts of their relationships with employers, health care personnel, and the health and safety system suggest that many environmental factors as well as attitudes toward work, employers, health and the body contribute to maintaining the status quo. Personal suffering was considered to be minor in comparison to other issues related to income and job security.

Learning Objectives:

• Participants will understand the importance of distinguishing between static and mobile standing in assessing health effects. Participants will think critically about how epidemiological studies of physical risk factors are conceived.
• Participants will understand why young and poor workers are hard to mobilise to improve working conditions.

Keywords: Occupational Exposure, Ergonomics

Presenting author's disclosure statement:
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.

Recorded presentation