Overhead drilling: comparing three bases for aligning a drilling jig to vertical

Area of Science:

• Occupational Health
• Ergonomics
• Construction Safety

Background:

• Overhead drilling tasks in construction are strenuous, leading to upper body pain and musculoskeletal disorders.
• Previous interventions (foot lever, inverted drill press) showed poor usability and setup times compared to the usual method.

Purpose of the Study:

• To compare three new overhead drilling intervention designs against the usual method.
• To evaluate usability and worker fatigue associated with overhead drilling tasks.

Main Methods:

• Sixteen commercial construction workers participated in the study.
• Three novel intervention designs, varying in vertical alignment mechanisms, were tested.
• Usability and regional body fatigue were assessed for each method.

Main Results:

• The usual overhead drilling method resulted in the highest levels of regional body fatigue.
• The usual method also received the poorest usability ratings among all tested methods.
• The three new interventions demonstrated improved usability over the standard procedure.

Conclusions:

• The 'Collar Base' intervention design achieved the highest usability ratings.
• Intervention designs for overhead drilling can potentially reduce shoulder fatigue and prevent musculoskeletal disorders.
• Further field-testing is crucial for developing effective workplace health and safety interventions.