The Silent Ergonomics of the South African Construction Industry: Observations in the Western Cape

摘要

Construction activity is not only economically challenging, it is ergonomically so too. In the study reported in this paper, the ergonomics challenges that construction artisans and their assistants encounter are examined in detail using naturalistic enquiry. The findings reveal chronic and concomitant ergonomics malpractices. It is contended that the ergonomics malpractices, when extrapolated over the working life of the artisans and their assistants arguably lead to musculo-skeletal syndromes and associated absenteeism. Recommendations on how to improve the status quo are given towards the end of the paper.