WARNING: This episode discusses work venues that commercialise sex as their trade.
Season 02 Episode 05: Alan annunciates ‘c-o-u-g-a-r’ in honeyed tones…“Silicon chip inside her head” (not inside her hip!) – the lyrics – Trajce finally realises the lyrics in Bob Geldof and the Boom Town Rat’s song, but laments that ‘hip’ would rhyme better with ‘chip’! Sara describes manual task risk management practices in ALL kinds of workplaces, even those that trade in s-e-x …
“If you reduce the exertion of a task,” she says, “you not only reduce risk ratings for physical injury, but you also make the task more accessible to women and older workers. When we design for diversity, we can enact our inclusivity practices”. O-kay… “Dare I say it? It is quite emancipatory… enabling workers to have buy-in, …they have ownership, (so they are)… not just feeling like a docile body that punches in and punches out and gets paid for their labour power, but they are part of the work process,” says Trajce.
Sara says, “I always ask: Can workers become architects of their superior work design? The design process is important, not just the outcomes”.
This episode also addresses the union of mind and body: a physical injury often has psychosocial effects and visa versa, and work injury claims might include both, including those submitted by sex workers.
NOTE: This episode discusses manual task risk management with wearable electromyography. Businesses are encouraged to make their own determinations about the application of these technologies in their workplaces.
Click here for some reading on Lifecycle Ergonomics, an integrated approach to work design to promote health. Connect with this link to read a position paper on Manual Task Risk Management, including some science debating the effectiveness of EMG as an industrial assessment tool.
For more on the lives of sex workers, tune in to Season 2 Episode 6: Mi casa es su casa