scholarly journals EVIDENCE‐BASED PREVENTION OF WORK‐RELATED MUSCULOSKELETAL INJURIES IN CONSTRUCTION INDUSTRY

2010 ◽  
Vol 16 (4) ◽  
pp. 499-509 ◽  
Author(s):  
Romuald A. Rwamamara ◽  
Ove Lagerqvist ◽  
Thomas Olofsson ◽  
Bo M. Johansson ◽  
Kazys Algirdas Kaminskas

Many construction work tasks are physically very strenuous and the incidence of work‐related musculoskeletal disorders (WMSDs) among construction workers is considerably higher than those in most other occupations. The aim of the study presented in this paper was to contribute to understanding a healthy construction site brought about by the best practices implemented by large construction sites to prevent WMSDs. A triangulation method made of interviews, site observations and studies on company's documents was used to identify the best practices in 13 several construction projects. A range of the best practices both in the pre‐construction and construction phases of the projects were identified in six different areas of the balance of the construction workplace system; however, there seems to be a significant need for good practices in the management of a systematic work environment. It is now established that Swedish construction industry has several best practices to protect work‐related musculoskeletal health. However, inadequate worker participation and the neglect of health and safety issues by designers in the planning process as well as the implications of some remuneration methods on the production schedule were perceived as detrimental to the musculoskeletal health of construction workers. Santrauka Daug statybos darbu yra fiziškai labai itempti, o su darbu susijusiu raumenu ir skeleto sistemos pažeidimu dažnis tarp statybininku yra kur kas aukštesnis negu tarp daugelio kitu profesiju. Šio tyrimo tikslas – pletoti supratima apie sveikatos būkle ir jos svarba dirbant statybu aikštelese, igyvendinant didelius statybos objektus, siekiant išvengti su darbu susijusiu raumenu ir skeleto sistemos pažeidimu. Tyrimams buvo taikytas interviu, pagristas trianguliacijos metodu, darbo procesu stebejimo statybos aikštelese metodas, buvo nagrineti statybos kompaniju dokumentai, siekiant identifikuoti 13 skirtingu statybos projektu. Geriausia praktika, prieš pradedant statybas ir jau statant, buvo nustatyta šešiuose skirtinguose statybu regionuose, tačiau tokia praktika yra svarbi darbo aplinkos vadyboje. Pripažinta, kad Švedijos statybos pramoneje taikomi keli būdai, kaip apsaugoti statybininkus nuo raumenu ir skeleto sistemos pažeidimu. Vis delto mažas darbininku domejimasis šia problema, sveikatos bei saugos problemu nepaisymas planavimo procese, kai kuriu atsilyginimo būdu itraukimas i gamybos veiksniu saraša buvo vertinti kaip faktoriai, žalingai veikiantys statybininku raumenu ir skeleto sistema.

2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 13-18
Author(s):  
Firoz Ahmed Mamin ◽  
Ganesh Dey ◽  
Shazal Kumar Das

Background: Bangladesh is a rapidly developing country. Lots of infrastructures are set up every year. A large number of people are working in the construction industry.  Work related injuries and deaths of construction workers are common. The aim of this study was to find the health and safety awareness of informal construction workers. Methodology: This study was a cross sectional study by using a preset questionnaire among the construction workers in Bangladesh. Results: Participants of this study had lower income and education. About 87% of participants did not receive any health and safety training and did not wear safety equipment when they were working. About 57% of the participants had a history of injury. This study also found that the main reasons for the non-use of safety equipment were lack of safety equipment, motivation and training. Conclusion: Construction workers are not adequately aware about health and safety issues that relate to them.


Author(s):  
Xiangcheng Meng ◽  
Huaiyuan Zhai ◽  
Alan H. S. Chan

China’s construction industry has experienced a long period of development and reform but compared to developed countries, safety on construction sites in China continues to present serious problems. Safety consciousness and safety citizenship behaviour are influential factors related to safety issues in the construction industry and may play a direct role in improving the safety of personnel on construction sites. However, recently no research has been focused on the relationship between safety consciousness and safety citizenship behaviour. Therefore, this paper aimed to investigate the relationship between safety consciousness and safety citizenship behaviour for personnel working on construction sites in China by using a questionnaire survey and statistical analysis, so that correlation between safety consciousness and safety citizenship can be demonstrated and effective measures suggested to improve the safety of construction workers in China, and perhaps in other countries as well.


Author(s):  
Fatemeh Nouban ◽  
Serah Onuh John

Managing health and safety on construction sites has always been a challenging issue faced by the Nigerian construction industry. Safety conditions on the construction sites depends on type or nature of work to be carried out and the management make commitment to implement safety projects concerning construction. There are no requirements assigned for implementing a security management system by the Nigerian government. Construction industries lacked a framework to implement security regarding projects on construction sites. Developing a Safety Framework can help professionals involved in carrying out construction works, implement and improve safety practices in executing their projects on sites. This study presents the development of a structure for implementing an effective health security on construction sites. An extensive review of the literature was carried out to design an appropriate security framework. The results underscore the requirement for competent personnel who must be appointed to ensure safety on construction sites. Finally, a security framework was developed in which companies can accept and adhere. The results of this research will help Nigerian construction companies to improve safety on construction sites.


Author(s):  
Nour Eldeen Abo Nassar

The construction industry is one of the most significant industries that contribute greatly to achieving economic development. However, it is also considered one of the industries that is always exposed to a high risk of hazards in addition to being full of risky activities. Accidents that occurred in construction industries have caused many defects in project progress, for example, delays in completing the project, increasing project cost, reducing productivity, and creating negative impressions about the company. The major reason for the accidents is poor worker safety performance, with a host of contributing causes. For improving safety performance, the root causes of incidents that occur in construction as well as the factors influencing them must be studied. Health and safety issues are the main problem and concerns in the building industry. Though much development has been made in construction safety, the industry still lacks a lag behind most other industries in terms of safety. The aim of this paper is to provide a comprehensive review of the factors that could affect the safety performance of a construction site to reduce the frequency of accidents.


Author(s):  
Reneiloe Malomane ◽  
Innocent Musonda ◽  
Chioma Sylvia Okoro

The fourth industrial revolution (4iR) technologies offer an opportunity for the construction industry to improve health and safety (H&S) compliance. Therefore, implementing the technologies is of top priority to improve the endless H&S incidents in construction projects, which lead to poor quality of work, late project delivery, and increased labour injury claims. Central to improving the nature of work and other industrial processes, the 4iR technologies have emerged. Concurrent with this trend is the importance of 4iR technologies in enhancing health and safety performance on construction sites. However, the implementation of 4iR technologies in the construction industry is faced with various challenges. Therefore, this paper reports on a study aimed at examining the challenges associated with implementing 4iR technologies in the construction sector in South Africa towards effective management of H&S. The study followed a systematic literature review, data collection using a questionnaire survey and thereafter, descriptive, and inferential analyses were conducted. The findings revealed that the implementation of 4iR technologies is challenged by a lack of adequate relevant skills, the unavailability of training capacities, expensive technologies, and negative perceptions such as fear of job loss by industry professionals. The findings are essential for the advancement of H&S research and implementation. In addition, the findings are important to industry decision-makers in order to elevate their awareness and promote the use of 4iR technologies to manage construction activities. The study implications include the need for the construction industry to collaborate with higher education institutions to conduct research and include 4iR in the curriculum.


Author(s):  
Charles I. Arum ◽  
Temidayo O. Osunsanmi ◽  
Clinton O. Aigbavboa

The construction industry is known for the high number of accidents occurring within the industry. This is due to the hazardous working processes which have led to severe injuries, disabilities and fatalities. Towards reducing this hazards numerous health and safety regulations have been provided by construction firms in Nigeria. Despite the provision of the regulations hazards and accidents is still experienced on construction sites. Thus, this study appraised the challenges of ensuring compliance with health and safety regulations by construction workers in the Nigeria construction industry. Data were obtained from safety personnel and construction professionals using questionnaires through a convenience sampling method. One hundred and thirty-eight were used for the analysis out of one hundred and sixty-eight that was distributed to the respondents. The questionnaire was analysed using SPSS V 24 adopting Factor analysis and mean item score. The findings clearly show that construction workers compliance to health and safety requirements is below average while the factor analysis shows inadequate safety equipment, low awareness to occupational health and poor compliance to health and safety requirements are the major challenges hindering the compliance rate. The study recommends that implementation of the use of innovative measures and hi-tech devices such as radio frequency identification for effective monitoring of construction workers. It also recommends the involvement of construction workers when making the health and safety policies. This study contributes towards improving the occupational safety experienced on construction sites within the country.


2018 ◽  
Vol 65 ◽  
pp. 03003 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ismaila Oladunni Muhammed ◽  
Adegbenga Raphael Ashiru

Construction industry has been attributed to be the growth of Nigerian economic and infrastructural development. Annual reports show that consistent accidents on construction sites in Zamfara State has affected substantial number of workers as they become temporarily or permanently disabled, thereby making many construction sites a death trap. It is as a result of high construction site accident currently experiencing in Zamfara state that this research was carried out to appraise the sustainability of health and safety of construction workers on sites. Subsequently, SPSS Version 20 was used to analyse descriptive statistical analysis. Furthermore, the findings highlighted that the performance and output of construction workers on construction sites depends on proper practice of health and safety. The research findings also recommended ways to enhance employers and employee’s compliance to existing laws guiding health and safety on Zamfara State construction sites.


2018 ◽  
Vol 10 (9) ◽  
pp. 3098 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xiuyu Wu ◽  
Heap-Yih Chong ◽  
Ge Wang ◽  
Shuquan Li

Health and safety issues are critical factors influencing the sustainable development of mega construction projects. The impact of social capitalism on health and safety activities has been widely discussed in sustainability domains; nevertheless, its influence towards workers’ safety behaviors in mega construction projects remains largely unknown. To address this research gap, the current study aims to determine the influence of social capitalism on safety behaviors from a two-fold perspective between project managers and construction workers. An exploratory case study was adopted from a mega construction project in Tianjin, China. The results reveal that (a) the social network between project managers and construction workers manifests itself as close communication and contact, trust and emotional identification, common language, vision, and values; (b) project managers’ management behaviors show stronger influences on construction workers’ safety compliance behaviors, while their leadership behaviors show stronger influences on construction workers’ safety participation behaviors; and (c) the practice of social capitalism promotes enforcement of commands and compulsory norms and plays a positive regulatory role on safety behaviors. These findings provide new insights into the use of social capitalism for improving safety behaviors and ultimately facilitate the attainment of the broader goal of sustainability in mega construction projects.


2017 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 60
Author(s):  
Emma Maano Nghitanwa ◽  
Lindiwe I Zungu

The purpose of this study is to discuss the awareness on the provision of occupational health and safety (OHS) among construction workers in the construction industry of Windhoek, Namibia. A quantitative, descriptive, cross sectional design was applied. Interviewer- led questionnaires were used to collect the data among 549 participants. The study results showed that most construction workers express poor awareness on construction industry OHS provision. The interventions such as OHS training enforcement is needed in order to increase construction workers OHS awareness through training. The employees need to establish OHS programs on the construction sites which include the development of the OHS policies which shows organisation commitment towards occupational health and safety of its workers.


2015 ◽  
Vol 2015 ◽  
pp. 1-6 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. Kanchana ◽  
P. Sivaprakash ◽  
Sebastian Joseph

Construction industry has accomplished extensive growth worldwide particularly in past few decades. For a construction project to be successful, safety of the structures as well as that of the personnel is of utmost importance. The safety issues are to be considered right from the design stage till the completion and handing over of the structure. Construction industry employs skilled and unskilled labourers subject to construction site accidents and health risks. A proper coordination between contractors, clients, and workforce is needed for safe work conditions which are very much lacking in Indian construction companies. Though labour safety laws are available, the numerous accidents taking place at construction sites are continuing. Management commitment towards health and safety of the workers is also lagging. A detailed literature study was carried out to understand the causes of accidents, preventive measures, and development of safe work environment. This paper presents the results of a questionnaire survey, which was distributed among various categories of construction workers in Kerala region. The paper examines and discusses in detail the total working hours, work shifts, nativity of the workers, number of accidents, and type of injuries taking place in small and large construction sites.


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