Working conditions and health

Work experience in civil aviation is marked by risk. The experience of pilots and air traffic
controllers is with an activity that requires precision in the decision. On the other hand, the
activity must be done quickly. Aviation work was mainly analyzed in relation to shift work and
pilot biorhythm conditions, the rotating shifts contrary to the circadian rhythms of organisms
(Fischer, 1991). Also the working conditions of pilots of one of the companies are analyzed by
working hours and salaries (Ferreira, 1992). Also, the ergonomic aspects of the Rio de Janeiro air
traffic control room make it difficult to do the work (Vidal & Moreira, 1999).

Working conditions are understood to be the objectification of more direct forms of domination,
such as they develop in labor relations (Castel, 1993). They reveal the organization of work as it
is structured in the workspaces and affect the quality of life and therefore the health of the
worker (Dejours, 1985). The conditions experienced by the worker are due to management
practices as they develop in the daily work relations. The body of the worker can reveal these
practices. They are the damages and risks of living in these given conditions of workplaces and
places. The body also reveals the attention and health care in the daily workplaces. In this sense,
it is understood that health can be verified by the inscription of social order in the body of
individuals (Boltanski, 1984). That is, health can be analyzed by work experience, and therefore
by the losses and illnesses that are produced by organisms in the workspace. It reveals practices
of use of work or even as an action of the power of institutions (Fassin, 1996) in the management
of workspaces (Dejours, 1985).

It is understood that health results from a process of social production that develops in social
spaces, dependent on a set of collectively produced living conditions. The health of the worker,
as an individual good, results from a collective production, an individual and collective quality of
life, including working conditions. This production requires permanent care and attention, with
the organism in constant motion, in a dynamic process of seeking balance through its biological
regulatory mechanism (Berlinguer, 2005).

Health policies can thus be analyzed by the actions and practices of both public institutions
responsible for health care, care and preservation, as well as companies in relation to their
workers, and private health institutions. In this understanding, they were focused from the
physical environmental aspects to the organizational, passing through the conditions by which
these conditions are experienced by this category of workers in their daily life and
work. Similarly, we sought to raise the notion of health as it is understood and managed in these
workspaces and how it affects this category of workers.

For the study of working conditions in aviation was privileged the experience of workers in labor
relations. Therefore, the relationships established in this specific area of activity and space were
considered.