Research group digitalization, health and working environments
The research group "digitalization, health and working environments" deals with practice-oriented questions in the context of work, organizational and health psychology.
Main Topics
Mental health and dealing with stress in the work context
- Future Center Mecklenburg-West Pomerania + (ZMV+)
- Identification of and advice on future-critical issues for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in MWP
- AI Focus: Introductory and application advice on the subject of artificial intelligence for SMEs
- Mental health and dealing with stress at work
- Research into the conditions that favor the acceptance of newly introduced technologies and thus their successful use
Completed Projects
Gesunde Arbeit in Pionierbranchen - Healthy work in pioneer industries
Funded by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF)- FKZ 01 FA 15036
Project duration: 01/2016 - 04/2019
The aim of the project is the development and testing of self-learning, network-coordinated occupational health and safety in pioneer industries under the conditions of technological and demographic change. The focus is on the design of work in the course of digitization and networking of operational processes, which are currently being discussed as Industry 4.0.
Target industries for the project are photonics, semiconductor technology and renewable energies. Their companies often have small and medium-sized business structures, but are often able to compensate for size-specific disadvantages through networking strategies. The three participating technology networks each represent these sectors with an exposed regional relevance. They pursue the goal of improved support for their member companies in the field of occupational health and safety. To this end, implementation concepts are being developed together with interdisciplinary university partners in Jena (sociology), Greifswald (psychology) and Dresden (medicine). The Jena University of Applied Sciences (business informatics) acts as a further scientific and technical-logistical partner.
The project partners use initial experiences of Industry 4.0 implementation in larger companies, build on the existing AGS routines in SMEs and further develop them adaptively. It is important to determine the potential of technological change and the consequences for work. Concepts for holistic health protection are developed by the operational project partners. This creates new operational concepts for prospective risk assessment and strategies for the networks for the sustainable development of the AGS field of action. Networking, transfer and utilization goals are organized as self-learning AGS systems. The exchange of social partners, companies, networks and authorities in prevention alliances plays a key role in this.
Offshore-Project
Aim: Evidence and dialogue-based recommendations for occupational health and safety in the offshore sector
Not only the construction and dismantling of wind farms, but above all their long-term operation ensures an ongoing need for various services. Working offshore in particular poses particular challenges. Whether on a ship, helicopter, platform or wind turbine, the safety and health of employees can be extremely endangered. The effort put into occupational health and safety is correspondingly high: specific regulations and instructions, adequate risk assessments and reliable safety equipment are intended to ensure safe and healthy work. Statistics on accidents, near misses and illnesses already provide indications of how successful the existing measures are. The health effects on the employees caused by the special features of working offshore are not represented there. With regard to both occupational safety and health protection, it can be stated that the employees' perspective has been largely neglected up to now. Their knowledge and experience hold the potential to decisively expand the current picture of the offshore working world and to identify necessary changes.
A joint project of the AFZ Rostock GmbH, ISC Training & Assembly GmbH and the Chair of Health and Prevention at the University of Greifswald is therefore investigating the questions:
- how offshore workers rate their safety and health at work, and
- what measures they propose to bring about an improvement in their situation.
The aim is therefore to develop evidence- and dialogue-based recommendations for occupational health and safety in the offshore area.
The processing of the questions takes place in different phases. In the pre-project phase, the research team first familiarizes itself with safety-relevant aspects of offshore work. To this end, the team takes part in several training courses and further education courses. The experiences flow into the conception phase of a questionnaire, which is accompanied by focus groups with experts and employees. The aim here is to develop a comprehensible, as short as possible and yet sufficiently precise instrument that is suitable for broad use in the various offshore areas of activity. The results of the survey are the starting point for the subsequent dialogue phase. As part of this, selected results are discussed in interviews and workshops with decision-makers and employees in order to derive concrete measures for occupational health and safety. Finally, the project results will be presented in various forums and made available to companies, decision-makers and actors.