Discussions on the place of work in our society are paradoxical. We love the potential of technology or denounce technicist dominance, but to worry or welcome it, the inevitable disappearance of work is claimed. The technology would therefore have been emancipated from the work? Looking at the work through the concrete study of productive activities, this book looks at the monitoring and control function in chemical and nuclear plants. He asked simple questions: What do men do in a very automated productive context? How do they ensure the continuity of the production flow and the safety of the installations? In short, how do they work? The forms of productive activity in these industries contradict the common representations of labour, which reduce it to force expenditure or social constraint. Therefore, a careful study of this industrial configuration makes it possible to question the contemporary transformations of work, far beyond the case of these sectors. Written in clear language, illustrated in many concrete cases and verbatims of survey, this book should be of interest to social science students such as students in engineers, but also to professionals who are confronted with new productive thinking on a daily basis.