The Impact of Ergonomics Interventions on Musculoskeletal Injuries Among Construction Workers

摘要

Most fatalities and injuries at construction sites can be traced to the worker not working in a safe position, using the wrong tool for the job, or using the right tool the wrong way. The aim of this research is to investigate into musculoskeletal injuries and ergonomic impact among construction workers. The objectives are to identify the types of musculoskeletal injuries; find the effect of musculoskeletal injuries among construction workers and to determine the impact of ergonomic interventions. Convenience and purposive sampling technique were used to select the sample size of 37 respondents. Questionnaires were used to take information from doctors and construction workers. Three medical doctors at the Cape Coast Central Regional Teaching Hospital revealed that strain and sprain were the major injuries recorded with means of 3.1 respectively. Loss of concentration, working not to specification and delay of work with respective means of 3.5; 3.3; and 3.2 were identified as the effects of musculoskeletal injuries on construction workers. It was found that some of the factors of musculoskeletal injuries among construction workers are awkward posture, repetition, vibration. force and extreme temperature. This was also confirmed by medical doctors' report that the most and frequent factor that caused musculoskeletal injuries is force, followed by awkward posture with respective means of 5 and 3.6. This clarifies the fact that construction workers attitude towards their health is poor.