This paper focuses on a research about offshore oil industry in the Campos Basin (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil), an empirical field we have followed up systematically since 2003, which can be classified as a complex socio-technical system. Our aim is to highlight the potential risks associated with work organization, mainly the schedule and shift systems adopted by some of the companies on oil platforms. We understand that in the investigated context, problems related to workers' safety and health - including mental health - are related to aspects of work organization, as those we have focused in this paper. We propose changes that may reduce the deleterious impact of those factors on workers' safety and health. The theoretical and methodological framework used in the research is based mainly on Ergonomics of Activity and Psychodynamics of Work, from an ergological perspective.
work organization; schedule; shift work; mental health and safety; offshore oil industry
