Occupational exposures and outsourcing practices in the field of maintenance. Towards contextualised prevention

Maintenance activities are critical not only for the health and safety of operators, but also for the safety of facilities. And yet little health data is available on maintenance staff. As for analyses of maintenance work, they often remain theoretical and “individual”. Studies associating analyses of how maintenance work is organised, of the activities concerned, and of their relations with health and safety, are rare. In particular, maintenance activities have not, to our knowledge, been examined with regard to the various forms of outsourcing of the maintenance function (subcontracting, using service providers, etc.).

Thus, this study has the following aims: to gain a better understanding of occupational exposures for maintenance staff and of the distinguishing features of such exposures; to comprehend the relationships between health and safety and the ways in which maintenance work is organised, in particular when it is organised through outsourcing; and to develop understanding of the forms of outsourcing of maintenance and of the real activities involved in maintenance.

To this end, use will be made of the SUMER 2010 survey: identifying, characterising, and specifying the occupational exposures of maintenance staff, in absolute terms, and in relation to certain ways of organising the work. Then in situ analyses will be conducted: characterisation of the network of companies involved in maintenance; and ergonomic analyses of the activities of maintenance technicians, if possible working under different forms of outsourcing.

The results should, in particular, make it possible to propose avenues for risk prevention that are suited to the various ways in which maintenance work is organised and to each form of outsourcing.

Planned dissemination: scientific publication in a peer-reviewed journal, presentation at a national conference, publication for occupational safety & health specialists and for companies, and contribution to a group training module.