Agnès Aublet-Cuvelier

Lateral Epicondylitis and Physical Exposure at Work? A Review of Prospective Studies and Meta-Analysis.

In view of recent published studies, a meta‐analysis was undertaken on prospective studies in order to assess any association between lateral epicondylitis and physical exposure at work.

Prévenir les troubles musculosquelettiques du membre supérieur : un enjeu social et économique: Prevention of work-related muscular-skeletal disorders of upper limbs: a social challenge and economic obligation

Work-related muscular-skeletal disorders of upper limbs (WRMSDul) represent 66% of all occupational injuries and diseases (OD). The total number of cases has multiplied by 8 over the past eleven years, and in 2002 there were 21126 OD incidents recorded. Although OD statistical data are not necessarily a truly precise reflection of the reality of associated risks, examination of these trends shows that over the past 10 years the most serious diseases, like rotator cuff tendonitis, have increased more rapidly than have the totality of WRMSDul cases as a whole. It is likely that the number of injured workers will continue to increase over the course of the coming years. An evaluation of indirect costs also demonstrates that there are significant social consequences associated with these diseases and which put into question the employability of the affected workers, who are often aged between 40 and 60 years old. This paper therefore brings to the surface the importance of prevention principles and proposes an ambitions prevention plan. This emblematic occupational health risk will constitute, along with professionally related cancers, one of the major challenges for prevention in the coming years.

Tendinopathie calcifiante de l’épaule et maladie professionnelle : maladie calcifiante tendineuse ou tendinopathie avec calcification ?

HAL is a multi-disciplinary open access archive for the deposit and dissemination of scientific research documents, whether they are published or not. The documents may come from teaching and research institutions in France or abroad, or from public or private research centers. L’archive ouverte pluridisciplinaire HAL, est destinée au dépôt et à la diffusion de documents scientifiques de niveau recherche, publiés ou non, émanant des établissements d’enseignement et de recherche français ou étrangers, des laboratoires publics ou privés. [Calcific tendinitis of the shoulder and compensation consequences: calcific disorder of tendon or tendinopathy with calcification?]. Alexis Descatha, Thierry Thomas, François Aubert, Agnès Aublet-Cuvelier, Yves Roquelaure

A better way of fitting clips? A comparative study with respect to physical workload

The clip fitting task is a frequently encountered assembly operation in the car industry. It can cause upper limb pain. During task laboratory simulations, upper limb muscular activity and external force were compared for 4 clip fitting methods: with the bare hand, with an unpowered tool commonly used at a company and with unpowered and powered prototype tools. None of the 4 fitting methods studied induced a lower overall workload than the other three. Muscle activity was lower at the dominant limb when using the unpowered tools and at the non-dominant limb with the bare hand or with the powered tool. Fitting clips with the bare hand required a higher external force than fitting with the three tools. Evaluation of physical workload was different depending on whether external force or muscle activity results were considered. Measuring external force only, as recommended in several standards, is insufficient for evaluating physical workload.

Identifying Situational Operational Leeway for Subcontract Supervisors so as to Progress in MSD Prevention

Supervisors seek to regulate critical situations influencing operators’ capacity to deal with risks of musculoskeletal disorders (MSD). The regulation adopted depends on the supervisors’ situational operational leeway (SOL), which is influenced by their individual characteristics and by characteristics related to their working environment (2–3). The aim of this study was to identify the components of SOL for first-line supervisors working through subcontracting, in order to allow them to contribute to the design of a working environment favourable to prevention of MSDs in the supervised operatives. Two qualitative case studies were conducted on meat-cutting supervisors employed by an external company (EC) and working in a user company (UC). From interviews with the supervisors and observation of their work (for 2 to 6 h on 4 days each), 15 critical situations were identified. These situations were then examined through self-confrontation interviews. The components of the SOL for the two supervisors were then constructed from the analysis of those situations. The SOL of the subcontracted supervisors breaks down as 16 components: 4 individual ones (i.e., the supervisors’ cutting skills), 4 organizational ones related to the EC (i.e., procedural autonomy), 4 organizational ones related to the UC (i.e., flexibility of the production modes), and 4 collective components related to opportunities to cope collectively by interacting with EC-supervised operatives and/or with UC employees (i.e., with support from UC supervisors). Individual components were mobilized most often, whereas organizational components were not systematically identified. The collective components were mobilized particularly in situations lacking organizational components.

Objective assessment of knife sharpness over a working day cutting meat

Knife sharpness is one of multiple factors involved in musculoskeletal disorders in industrial meat cutting. The aim of this study was to objectively evaluate, in real working situations, how knife sharpness changed over a working day cutting meat, and to analyse the impact of sharpening, steeling and meat-cutting activities on these variations. Twenty-two meat-cutting workers from three different companies participated in the study. The methods included measurements of knife sharpness in relation to real work situations and consideration of the way meat-cutting and sharpening operations were organised. Results showed that the type of meat-cutting activities, the steeling strategy adopted by the worker, including the types of tool used, and the overall organisation of the sharpening task all had a significant influence on how knife sharpness evolved over a 2-h period and over an entire working day. To improve MSD prevention, sharpening and steeling operations should not be considered as independent activities, but taken into account as a continuity of working actions. Appropriate assessment of knife sharpness by meat cutters affects how they organise meat-cutting and sharpening tasks.

O19-6 An interdisciplinary approach to evaluate complex prevention interventions

This project dealt with evaluation of complex occupational interventions on Psychosocial Risks (PSR) and Musculo Skeletal Disorders (MSD) targeting primary prevention and organisation. The project aimed to perform a relevant theoretical framework and to design recommendations, methods and tools for field practices. A multidisciplinary working group performed literature review on PSR/TMS evaluation and existing multidisciplinary models of evaluation. Moreover it carried out comparison of the evaluation theoretical models available in human and biological sciences „(psychology, sociology, ergonomics, economics, epidemiology, management and education sciences). In parallel, 50 prevention practitioners were requested to report evaluation practices, needs and expectations. Based on theoretical compilation and practitioners’ recommendations, a new evaluation approach was designed. Evaluation was considered from the point of view of each academic discipline according to ontology, epistemology, causation, method, tools, etc. Convergence and divergence between the disciplines were identified. Realistic evaluation was retained as integrative model of existing intervention models. The proposed method defined 4 different domains of evaluation, among those one on all potential effects of organisational interventions (listed in 6 headings and 39 sub headings) and another one on assessment of causality between intervention and effects. This evaluation approach was tested in 2015, by 27 out of the 50 practitioners in 32 interventions intended mainly to prevent PSR and/or MSD but also to reduce physical load or to promote quality of work life, etc. An 800-item form was filled out by testers in order to evaluate the method in substance and in form. Mixed analyses of this questionnaire allowed sharpening the evaluation approach. Edition in 2016 of a manuscript on theoretical aspects and a brochure for practitioners should contribute to promote extended and adequate evaluation, in order to improve field practices of PSR/TMS prevention interventions. This evaluation methodology could concern all complex interventions which intend to improve work organisation.