Electricians’ exposure to ergonomically challenging working positions and conditions makes them vulnerable to musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs). Ergonomic behaviour and compliance with interventions may be expected to be intertwined with their understanding, knowledge, and habits regarding their occupation and regarding work environment and ergonomics. These habits and knowledge are initially formally shaped during vocational education and training. Therefore, the aim of this article is to explore how electricians and the electrical trade are conceived, expressed and (re)produced in a trade school context and how these may function to impede or facilitate implementation of healthy ergonomic habits and behaviours for electricians. Five semi-structured focus group interviews were performed with trade school related stakeholders regarding electricians and MSDs. Interview data was analysed using discourse analysis. Results show that discourses of ‘the architecture of electricity’ and of ‘time pressure’ informed the informants discussions. The discourses positioned electricians as tenacious and responsible, which, in turn, tended to both impede and facilitate the interviewed electricians’ ergonomic behaviour, with a macho-culture serving as a major impeding influence. © 2022 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.
Author Keywords
Index Keywords
