Work Conditions in Quebec
This article addresses the issues of age and social relations at work with regards to working conditions and health and safety at work. This study is the results of a group of scholars from disciplines such as ergonomics, sociology, psycho-sociology, communications, law and education using surveys and field studies based on a comprehensive approach of the phenomena in the Quebec Occupational Health and Safety Research Network created in 2006. The issue arises in a specific social context marked, among others, by the globalization of markets, a large influx of new technologies, a transformation of employment patterns as well as an aging work force in industrialized nations. These transformations create particular conditions for the retention and the integration of the work force within the workplace. Using data extracted from the 2008 Étude québécoise sur des conditions de travail, d’emploi et de santé et de sécurité du travail (EQCOTESST, Québec, Survey on Working and Employment Conditions and Occupational Health and Safety) conducted with a representative sampling of 5,071 respondents, this study aims at providing a snapshot of the working conditions of Quebec workers (Canada) by age group. This article offers an interpretation of the profile from an analytical standpoint using a diachronic approach of the age-work-health dynamics in order to better guide interventions in the workplace.