Streamlining ergonomic assessment of nonrepetitive workplaces

Area of Science:

• Occupational Health
• Ergonomics
• Construction Safety

Background:

• Work-related musculoskeletal disorders (WMSDs) are a significant issue in non-repetitive jobs like construction.
• Current methods for assessing ergonomic risks in these settings are often complex or imprecise.
• Identifying specific high-risk tasks is challenging due to the broad range of activities involved.

Purpose of the Study:

• To propose and validate a worker feedback mechanism for efficiently identifying high-risk activities.
• To reduce the scope of ergonomic risk assessments in construction workplaces.
• To offer a flexible, comprehensive, simple, and replicable assessment tool.

Main Methods:

• A five-step template involving focus groups and surveys was developed.
• The template was implemented across 11 construction crews from five different employers.
• Validation was performed using predictive validity, effectiveness, test-retest reliability, and intra-rater reliability.

Main Results:

• Workers consistently identified activities with elevated ergonomic risks.
• The proposed method successfully reduced the number of activities requiring further investigation by 60%.
• While workers identified high-risk activities, the order might differ from traditional control methods.

Conclusions:

• Worker feedback is an effective tool for pinpointing ergonomic risks in construction.
• The developed template offers a practical and efficient method for narrowing down high-risk activities.
• This approach can streamline the management of work-related musculoskeletal disorders in the construction industry.