BACKGROUND: The Brundlandt Report (Our Common Future), from 1987, provided just a generic notion of sustainable development, leaving to the political, academic and social milieus the formulation of the technical foundations of sustainability. Within this context, category workers' health was neglected. OBJECTIVE: The present paper discusses the central relevance of work and its relationship to health for the development of sustainability as anchored in the respect for the life and health of workers. METHODS: Based on the qualitative scientific paradigm and the dialectical method, the theoretical and empirical research conducted in the presented study adopted an epistemological perspective grounded on three basic principles: constructive nature of interpretative knowledge, interactive nature of the research process and significance of singularity as a level of knowledge production through a dialogical process. RESULTS: Based on the analysis performed, subject workers' health in its relation to sustainable development was subjected to an epistemological discussion. CONCLUSION: To fully substantiate this notion, the idea of sustainable development implies a thorough involvement of ergonomics and other fields of knowledge related to work.
BACKGROUND: The Brundlandt Report (Our Common Future), from 1987, provided just a generic notion of sustainable development, leaving to the political, academic and social milieus the formulation of the technical foundations of sustainability. Within this context, category workers' health was neglected. OBJECTIVE: The present paper discusses the central relevance of work and its relationship to health for the development of sustainability as anchored in the respect for the life and health of workers. METHODS: Based on the qualitative scientific paradigm and the dialectical method, the theoretical and empirical research conducted in the presented study adopted an epistemological perspective grounded on three basic principles: constructive nature of interpretative knowledge, interactive nature of the research process and significance of singularity as a level of knowledge production through a dialogical process. RESULTS: Based on the analysis performed, subject workers' health in its relation to sustainable development was subjected to an epistemological discussion. CONCLUSION: To fully substantiate this notion, the idea of sustainable development implies a thorough involvement of ergonomics and other fields of knowledge related to work.
Entities:
Keywords:
ergonomics; occupational health; sustainable development
Authors: Elizabeth Costa Dias; Ada Avila Assuncao; Cláudio Bueno Guerra; Hugo Alejandro Cano Prais Journal: Cad Saude Publica Date: 2002 Jan-Feb Impact factor: 1.632