ABSTRACT
This chapter presents recommendations and solutions to improve work conditions for both workers and managers. Frederick Taylor was the person essentially responsible for the modern factory, where thousands of faceless workers perform relentless and repetitious tasks under tight supervision and control. Promoting workers’ well-being is also intricately linked to reducing workers’ feelings of powerlessness, and indeed herein one cannot escape a political context. The significant discrepancies found between employer injury reports compared with check-in worker self-reports, particularly on musculoskeletal disorders, demonstrate the lack of priority given to worker health by management of check-in workers. A consistent association has been established between lower injury rates and worker empowerment, among other factors such as active management in health and safety. The involvement of workers in identifying and solving their own problems in the workplace was explored in the educational pedagogy of Paulo Freire.
