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The Impact of Ergonomics Interventions on Musculoskeletal Injuries Among Construction Workers

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Advances in Physical Ergonomics and Human Factors (AHFE 2017)

Part of the book series: Advances in Intelligent Systems and Computing ((AISC,volume 602))

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Abstract

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.

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Acknowledgements

Authors are particularly grateful to Mr. Asamoah Mark, a Higher National Diploma holder in Building Technology at the Department of Building Technology in the Cape Coast Polytechnic, for enormously assisting in the preparation of this paper.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Cape Coast Technical University, Cape Coast, Ghana

    Emmanuel Bamfo-Agyei & Lawrence Atepor

Authors
  1. Emmanuel Bamfo-Agyei
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  2. Lawrence Atepor
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Correspondence to Emmanuel Bamfo-Agyei .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of IELM, Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Kowloon, Clear Water Bay, Hong Kong

    Ravindra S. Goonetilleke

  2. Department of Industrial Engineering, University of Central Florida, Orlando, Florida, USA

    Waldemar Karwowski

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Bamfo-Agyei, E., Atepor, L. (2018). The Impact of Ergonomics Interventions on Musculoskeletal Injuries Among Construction Workers. In: Goonetilleke, R., Karwowski, W. (eds) Advances in Physical Ergonomics and Human Factors. AHFE 2017. Advances in Intelligent Systems and Computing, vol 602. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-60825-9_16

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-60825-9_16

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-60824-2

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-60825-9

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