Evaluating concrete casting tasks through ergonomic risk assessment methods
Many of those working on construction sites are exposed to demanding work loads; construction workers lift and carry heavy loads and work in awkward work postures. Occupational injuries and accidents due to poor ergonomics are more common in the construction industry. Despite the decreasing trend of work-related injuries reported in the last seven years, musculoskeletal injuries are still the most common injury in the Swedish construction industry (65％ of all cases). In Sweden, it is reported that concrete workers have the highest relative work-related musculoskeletal injury frequency. The aim of the study presented in this paper is to find practical methods to evaluate and compare different production methods from an ergonomic perspective. The study focused on the production of cast-in-place concrete bridge constructions where traditional concrete casting method is compared with the SCC (Self-Compacting concrete) casting method. To identify work-related musculoskeletal injury risks due to concrete casting work tasks, QEC (Quick Exposure Check for musculoskeletal risks) and PLIBEL (Checklist for identification for Ergonomics Hazards) methods were used. The study results have shown that industrialized concrete casting (i.e. self-compacting concrete (SCC) casting) has an ergonomic advantage over the traditional concrete casting as the SCC casting does not require concrete vibration and awkward work postures that goes along with it. Ergonomic risks analysis methods QEC and PLIBEL have both shown capabilities to evaluate construction work activities and thus determine whether a construction work activity constitutes a musculoskeletal risk to the worker or not before any ergonomic intervention is introduced.
work-related musculoskeletal construction industry concrete casting concrete workers ergonomic risk assessment
Romuald Rwamamara
Division of Architecture and Infrastructure, Lule(a) University of Technology,971 87 Lule(a) Sweden
国际会议
17th World Congress on Ergonomics(第十七届国际人类工效学大会)
北京
英文
1-5
2009-08-09（万方平台首次上网日期，不代表论文的发表时间）