Documents workplace monitoring 82 results

"This edited collection provides a series of accounts of workers' local experiences that reflect the ubiquity of work's digitalisation. Precarious gig economy workers ride bikes and drive taxis in China and Britain; call centre workers in India experience invasive tracking; warehouse workers discover that hidden data has been used for layoffs; and academic researchers see their labour obscured by a `data foam' that does not benefit them. These cases are couched in historical accounts of identity and selfhood experiments seen in the Hawthorne experiments and the lineage of automation. This book will appeal to scholars in the Sociology of Work and Digital Labour Studies and anyone interested in learning about monitoring and surveillance, automation, the gig economy and the quantified self in the workplace."

"This article explores the issues of subordination and authority in the contemporary world of work as they are exacerbated by new forms of work-surveillance that track emotions and mental states of workers by means of artificial intelligence, predictive algorithms and big data. It discusses subordination in contemporary work arrangements, highlighting how new technologies and business practices expand hierarchy and forms of private government beyond the scope of the employment relationship. It explores some of the technologies and practices that magnify and expand managerial powers to unprecedented levels, by tracking and strictly monitoring workers' emotional and mental states. It also highlights how collective labour rights represent the best counterbalance to restrain these practices and curb modern forms of private government in the workplace. It concludes by discussing how the distinction between the traditional functions of collective rights, the ‘civil liberty' and the ‘industrial' function is increasingly blurred, arguing that an expansion of the personal scope of collective rights is crucial in this regard"

"Data collected from fitness trackers worn by employees could be very useful for businesses. The sharing of this data with employers is already a well-established practice in the United States, and companies in Europe are showing an interest in the introduction of such devices among their workforces. Our argument is that employers processing their employees' fitness trackers data is unlikely to be lawful under the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). Wearable fitness trackers, such as Fitbit and AppleWatch devices, collate intimate data about the wearer's location, sleep and heart rate. As a result, we consider that they not only represent a novel threat to the privacy and autonomy of the wearer, but that the data gathered constitutes ‘health data' regulated by Article 9. Processing health data, including, in our view, fitness tracking data, is prohibited unless one of the specified conditions in the GDPR applies. After examining a number of legitimate bases which employers can rely on, we conclude that the data processing practices considered do not comply with the principle of lawfulness that is central to the GDPR regime. We suggest alternative schema by which wearable fitness trackers could be integrated into an organization to support healthy habits amongst employees, but in a manner that respects the data privacy of the individual wearer."

"COVID-19 is considered an occupational disease (OD), when infection occurs at the workplace for health workers (HW). Because of the increased infection risk of these workers, they were deemed to be a priority group when the vaccination campaign started in Germany in December 2020. By December 2021, more than 90% of HW had been vaccinated twice. We studied the number and the time trend concerning the severity of OD claims related to COVID-19. Workers' compensation claims for OD are recorded in a standardized database of the Statutory Accident Insurance and Prevention in the Health and Welfare Services (BGW). We analyzed all notifiable COVID-19 related claims filed between 1 March 2020 and 30 September 2022. The proportion of severe cases was estimated by inpatient stays, injury benefit payments, rehabilitation measures, and deaths. The data analysis was descriptive. Due to COVID-19, 317,403 notifiable cases were reported to the BGW. Of these, 200,505 (63.2%) had thus far been recognized as OD. The number of notifiable cases was highest in 2022 and lowest in 2020. In total, 3289 insured individuals were admitted to rehabilitation management. This represented 1.6% of all recognized ODs due to COVID-19 at the BGW. The proportion of cases admitted to rehabilitation management decreased from 4.5% of all recognized ODs in 2020 to 3.2% in 2021 and to 0.1% of all recognized cases in 2022. For inpatient stays, injury benefit payment, and death, a similar trend was observed. Therefore, it might be concluded that the successful vaccination campaign mitigated the negative health effects of COVID-19 on HW. Even with vaccination, severe cases can occur. Therefore, infection prevention at the workplace remains paramount."

"Afin d'évaluer la qualitéde l'air extérieur que respirent les travailleurs de la zone aéroportuaire, les médecins du travail d'une compagnie aérienne ont procédé, dans différentes escales françaises, à quinze campagnes de mesurages sur quatre ans des principaux polluants atmosphériques (hydrocarbures aromatiques polycycliques, composés organiques volatiles, oxydes d'azote, monoxyde de carbone, particules en suspension). Des prélèvements individuelsau poste de travail, ainsi que des prélèvements ambiants, ont été réalisés par un organisme extérieur accrédité. Les résultats montrent des niveaux d'exposition faibles, parfois à la limite de quantification des méthodes utilisées, pour la plupart des polluants mesurés. Seuls les niveaux d'exposition aux particules diesel classées par le Centre international de recherche sur le cancer (CIRC) depuis 2012 comme cancérogènes certains pour l'homme (groupe 1) nécessitent de renforcer les mesures de prévention mises en oeuvre."

"Cet article présente la méthode ayant été testée et optimisée dans le cadre du dispositif de surveillance épidémiologique des travailleurs potentiellement exposés aux nanomateriaux en France, EpiNano. Cette méthode intègre les préconisations de l'INRS, de l'INERIS et du CEA dans l'étude dite de situation préalable à une campagne de mesurage. Elle se matérialise par un outil pragmatique : le Carnet d'observation technique (COT). Il s'agit d'un outil de collecte d'informations, conçu pour des épidémiologistes, qui pourrait servir à l'ensemble des acteurs de la santé et prévention au travail impliqués dans la gestion des risques liés aux nanomatériaux."

"Pour être accrédité par le Cofrac et intervenir dans le champ réglementaire français, les organismes procédant à des mesures d'empoussièrement en fibres d'amiante au poste de travail ont l'obligation de participer chaque année à l'essai inter-laboratoires de comptage de fibres d'amiante par Meta organisé par l'INRS. Cet article dresse un état des lieux des pratiques des laboratoires y participant à la suite du bilan de ces 10 dernières années et, plus particulièrement, sur les résultats rendus en 2014. Pour certains laboratoires accrédités, les anomalies constatées sont alarmantes et interrogent le respect du référentiel d'accréditation. Le comptage rigoureux du nombre de fibres d'amiante représentant un enjeu majeur pour la santé publique et la santé au travail, des pratiques anormales et inacceptables relevées ici doivent être rapidement améliorées."