From the Editor

Abstract

I write this From the Editor during the last few days of summer in North America. I have thoroughly enjoyed working remotely from Boston at our family’s home located two hours north in the beautiful state of New Hampshire. This week, I will prepare to attend the 20th Congress of the International Ergonomics Association (IEA) in Florence, Italy. There will be over 1,600 researchers, practitioners and students from over 70 countries. Some of the keynote speakers include Massimo Bergamasco from Scuola Superiore Sant’Anna, Pisa, Italy; Roberto Funes Abrahão from the University of Campinas (UNICAMP), Brazil; Pascale Carayon from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, USA; Andrew Thatcher from the School of Human and Community Development, South Africa; Waldemar Karwowski from the University of Central Florida, USA and an Editorial Board member of WORK , among many other inspirational speakers. Not only will there be keynote addresses, but workshops, plenaries, panel discussions, symposiums, posters, and videos. I will be participating in three presentations with colleagues: a poster with Sarah Dockrell, another Editorial Board member of WORK , on an article published in WORK entitled: Parental awareness of schoolbag carriage: A comparative study of Irish and United States parents. I will be a panelist discussing Global Ergonomics Month: Experiences, Stories and Initiatives around the world. I will be sharing the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society’s (HFES) National Ergonomics Month (NEM) activities since 2003. HFES designated October of every year as NEM. The purpose of NEM is “to create awareness of human factors and ergonomics (HF/E) through grassroots, community-based activities at colleges and universities, high schools, and corporations by providing information and services to the community” (hfes.org). Finally, I will be participating in the symposium, Ergonomics challenges in the rapidly evolving world of children internationally. In this symposium, we will be addressing these important questions:

How prevalent is mobile touch screen device use by children?

What are the concerns of parents and educators about mobile touch screen device use by young children?

What do teenagers and their parents think about mobile touch screen device use?

What is the evidence that mobile touch screen device use is related to musculoskeletal risk in school children?

What is the evidence that mobile touch screen device use is related to musculoskeletal and visual symptom risk in school children?

Can ergonomics interventions reduce musculoskeletal risk associated with mobile touch screen device use?

What are the challenges faced by ergonomics in supporting wise use of mobile touch screen devices by children?

I was happy to discover that many of the references to answer these questions were published in WORK! Finally, I am delighted to share that IOS Press, the publisher of WORK is a supporting sponsor of the 2018 IEA Congress. In addition, we offered to publish manuscripts from the Congress in each issue of WORK in 2019.

This issue of WORK contains 14 articles with four of these articles included in a special section on Occupational Ergonomics. These four articles include topics such as: safety culture maturity assessment for mining activities in South America; types and factors affecting injury rates of mechanical contractors; variation, companionship and manageability important for recovery during working hours; and a pilot study on A tentative efficiency index for pointing device use in computer aided design.

I hope you can join us for our remaining 2018 Learn at WORK webinar series which are presented in cooperation with the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society. Here are the upcoming webinars:

Wednesday, September 19, 2018, 1-2pm Eastern Standard Time (EST):

Mouna Knani will be presenting her article: Psychosocial risks, burnout and intention to quit following the introduction of new software at work

Registration link: https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/5356945280898533378

Wednesday, October 24, 2018, 1-2pm Eastern Standard Time (EST):

Cary A. Brown, Jennifer Schell & Lisa M. Pashniak will be presenting their article: Occupational therapists’ experience of workplace fatigue: Issues and action

Registration link: https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/4363076931463859203

Wednesday, November 28, 2018 1-2pm Eastern Standard Time (EST):

Patricia Tegtmeier will be presenting her article: A scoping review on smart mobile devices and physical strain

Registration link: https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/920484034664805891

Here are our 2019 Learn at WORK webinars:

Wednesday, January 30, 2019, 1-2pm Eastern Standard Time (EST):

Wheelchair Accessibility of Mosques in Riyadh presented by Hashem Abu Tariah and colleagues.

Registration link: https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/5306235811899631105

Wednesday, February 27, 2019, 1-2pm Eastern Standard Time (EST):

The impact of customer incivility and verbal aggression on service providers: A systematic review presented by Valentina Sommovigo.

Registration link: https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/1164081940462995457

Wednesday, March 13, 2019, 1-2pm Eastern Standard Time (EST):

Ergonomics and Standing Desks presented by Allison Mula.

Registration link: https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/8218182406904670979

Wednesday, April 24, 2019, 1-2pm Eastern Standard Time (EST):

With a little help from our friends: Collaborative research partnerships in three workplace-based occupational disease research projects presented by Dr. Desre Kramer and Emily Haynes.

Registration link: https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/3911180955674224130

Wednesday, May 22, 2019, 1-2pm Eastern Standard Time (EST): More than a job: Career development of individuals with cystic fibrosis presented by Pablo S. Saldana.

Registration link: https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/6460900040982414594

Wednesday, June 12, 2019, 1-2pm Eastern Standard Time (EST): The efficacy and efficiency of disability management in job retention and job reintegration: A Systematic Review presented by Dominique Van de Velde.

Registration link: https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/8674132286757505795

Wednesday, August 21, 2019, 1-2pm Eastern Standard Time (EST): Perspectives on the use of a telehealth service-delivery model as a component of school-based occupational therapy practice presented by Daniel Rortvedt.

Wednesday, September 18, 2019, 1-2pm Eastern Standard Time (EST): Decent Work, Work Motivation and Psychological Capital: An empirical research presented by Tânia Ferraro.

Wednesday, November 27, 2019, 1-2pm Eastern Standard Time (EST): Job satisfaction and its related factors among dentists: A cross-sectional study presented by Joanna Kobza.

If you missed any of the Learn at WORK webinars, you can find the recordings at the Learn at WORK YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCOJalCXvSg9fPHaFFs48PuQ

You can view the complete schedule on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/WORKJournal2016/?fref=ts

As always, I welcome hearing from you.

Cheers,

Karen