Formative intervention for safety: challenging methods from Cultural Historical Activity Theory (CHAT).

Ergonomics intervention is a key instrument to develop work safety, particularly to better understand the real conditions of work by analyzing the activity. In activity-oriented ergonomics’ tradition, intervention aims to develop knowledge for the transformation of work situations, but also, by doing such, to support the development of professionals. It’s for us a key point that anchors an emancipatory aim of ergonomic action: the challenge is to make workers actors of the prevention and of their work situations, thus considering the social and political dimensions of ergonomics.
In that view, our research explore how an activist, interventionist and transformative approach to work developed by Engeström can be effective to pursue the efforts engaged in these ways of progress for safety at work (Engestrom, 2000; Engestrom & Sannino, 2010). It takes part of an ongoing international research project, involving French and Brazilian researchers, and named « Innovation and Transformation for Prevention Activity of Professional Risks » (ITAPAR).
In that project, various fields are analyzed (education, health care, agriculture), where we develop and implement such formative methods using in particular the methodology of Change Laboratory. The aim is to understand how these formative interventions may sustain expansive learning process both for workers and preventionists.
During this conference, we will present the methodology and the first results of the research.