BARRIER AT WORK

The paper develops the concepts of barrier function and mechanisms taking into account both positive and negative view, i.e. the actions the barrier is opposed to and the actions the barrier promotes. The affordances concept is then applied to describe the opportunities for actions or for situations (i.e., the consequences of actions) when using barriers. Intentional and apparent barriers are introduced in terms of the design of the barrier mechanism and of the perception of a barrier function in relation with the opportunities for actions or for situations. A case study related to procedure application is discussed.