The tempo of the work environment’s evolution has been on the rise – in terms of employment forms as well as anything else. Many of these changes make the contemporary idea of work far removed from the traditional comprehension of the term. The article discusses various concepts of new forms of work, their occurrence in the Polish labour market and possible effects on the psychosocial working conditions, health and well-being of working people.

DOI: 10.54215/BP.2022.09.22.Mockallo

The main purpose of having firefighting equipment is to be able to use it whenever and wherever it is needed, which means that it must be kept in perfect technical condition. Proper inspection of this equipment consists of several activities. Regular inspections require lifting fire extinguishers which can weight from a few to several kilograms. Until now, person performing the inspection was forced to lift a fire extinguisher from the ground, then – to raise it to the height of a head and turn it to be able to check that a fire extinguisher is undamaged (and in the case of a powder extinguisher – whether the powder inside is not lumpy). This requires a considerable physical force which strains employee's spine, and reduces the efficiency and accuracy of measurements while performing this task. Moreover, raising a fire extinguisher takes place in an unnatural position for humans, which may cause an injury to musculoskeletal system, which requires long-term treatment, and sometimes has irreversible health effects. However, exposure to this type of injury can be reduced by using a rotary holder for fire extinguishers, designed by the author of this article. This solution provides the employee inspecting fire extinguishers with greater safety as it eliminates the need to manually lift extinguishers off the floor and to hold them in their hands throughout the entire inspection process.

DOI: 10.54215/BP.2022.09.23.Lagiewka

The integration of microelectronics and wearable electronics with personal protective equipment (PPE) means that, on the one hand, completely new functions can be achieved, but on the other hand, their inappropriate design may be a potential source of danger for the user, e.g. by causing excessive psychophysical burden. For this reason, it is necessary to test protective clothing equipped with wearable electronics in terms of its impact on the psychophysical load of a human being.

At the Central Institute for Labour Protection – National Research Institute, efforts were made to develop a new research methodology that would allow to fully investigate and evaluate the impact of smart protective clothing, including those with built-in sensors and microelectronic modules, on the psychophysical load of its user under simulated conditions of intended use.

DOI: 10.54215/BP.2022.09.24.Dabrowska