Workload and associated factors: a study in maritime port in Brazil.

Marta Regina Cezar-Vaz,Clarice Alves Bonow,Marlise Capa Verde De Almeida,Leticia Silveira Cardoso,Cynthia Fontella Sant'Anna

doi:10.1590/1518-8345.1347.2837

Abstract

ABSTRACTObjective:to identify the effect of the mental, physical, temporal, performance, total effort and frustration demands in the overall workload, and in the same way analyze the global burden of port labor and associated factors that contribute most to their decrease or increase. Method:a cross-sectional, quantitative study, developed with 232 dock workers. For data collection, a structured questionnaire with descriptive, occupational, smoking and illicit drug use variables was applied, as well as variables on the load on the tasks undertaken at work, based on the questionnaire NASA Task Load Index. For data analysis, we used the analysis of the Poisson regression model. Results:the demands physical demand and total effort showed greater effect on the overall workload, indicating high overall load on port work (134 employees - 58.8%). The following remained associated statistically with high levels of workload: age (p = 0.044), to be employee of the wharfage (p = 0.006), work only at night (p = 0.025), smoking (p = 0.037) and use of illegal drugs (p = 0.029). Conclusion:the workload in this type of activity was high, and the professional category and work shift the factors that contributed to the increase, while the age proved to be a factor associated with a decrease.

Highlights

Planning disease and injuries prevention and promotion of healthy conditions and welfare in the area of occupational health, requires metrics that can detect adequate or inadequate working conditions with the potential to trigger illness in specific groups of workers
Nursing uses this metric to study the work itself, for example, a study conducted in the United States, which assessed the workload of nurses in intensive care units[2], indicating greater workload for nurses working 12 hours in day shifts, compared to those who worked the same period in night shifts
The results of this study indicate that the dock worker with one more year in the functions reduced the prevalence of high levels of overall workload by 1%

Summary

Introduction

Planning disease and injuries prevention and promotion of healthy conditions and welfare in the area of occupational health, requires metrics that can detect adequate or inadequate working conditions with the potential to trigger illness in specific groups of workers. Research in Brazil on the comparison of the work of nurses who performed the nursing process using printed material versus computerized material showed that the computerized way contributed to reducing nurses’ workload, being a support system for decision making of clinical practice[3] These studies indicate that nursing produces scientific knowledge about the human costs that subjects suffer to process the practice, considering the focus of the organization of the process and, the relationship with the technological tools that can increase or decrease the workload. The urgency is to produce knowledge, getting scientifically interested, other production processes, in order to generate knowledge that unfold in daily practice, assistance to adults in relation to the occupational load that can produce injuries and diseases in the worker

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Conclusion