The benefits of an additional worker are task-dependent: assessing low-back injury risks during prefabricated (panelized) wall construction

Details

• Personal Author:
  Jia B ; Kim S ; Nussbaum MA
• Description:
  Team manual material handling is a common practice in residential construction where prefabricated building components (e.g., wall panels) are increasingly used. As part of a larger effort to enable proactive control of ergonomic exposures among workers handling panels, this study explored the effects of additional workers on injury risks during team-based panel erection tasks, specifically by quantifying how injury risks are affected by increasing the number of workers (by one, above the nominal or most common number). Twenty-four participants completed panel erection tasks with and without an additional worker under different panel mass and size conditions. Four risk assessment methods were employed that emphasized the low back. Though including an additional worker generally reduced injury risk across several panel masses and sizes, the magnitude of these benefits varied depending on the specific task and exhibited somewhat high variability within a given task. These results suggest that a simple, generalizable recommendation regarding team-based panel erection tasks is not warranted. Rather, a more systems-level approach accounting for both injury risk and productivity (a strength of panelized wall systems) should be undertaken. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Aging Biomechanical Phenomena Construction Industry Construction Materials Ergonomics Men Musculoskeletal Diseases Musculoskeletal System Occupational Health Risk Assessment Risk Factors Safety

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• Keywords:
  Age-groups Analytical-processes Author Keywords: Team Lifting Back-injuries Biomechanics Construction Construction-materials Humans Injuries Manual-materials-handling Musculoskeletal-system Musculoskeletal-system-disorders Prevention Through Design Risk-factors Risk Assessment Task-performance Workers

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• ISSN:
  0003-6870
• Document Type:
  Text
• Funding:
  Cooperative Agreement
• Genre:
  Journal Article
• Place as Subject:
  OSHA Region 3 ; Virginia
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Volume:
  43
• Issue:
  5
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20041655
• Citation:
  Appl Ergon 2012 Sep; 43(5):843-849
• Contact Point Address:
  Maury A. Nussbaum, Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering, Virginia Tech, 250 Durham Hall (0118), Blacksburg, VA 24061
• Email:
  nussbaum@vt.edu
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2012
• NORA Priority Area:
  Construction
• Performing Organization:
  Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University
• Peer Reviewed:
  True
• Start Date:
  20040915
• Source Full Name:
  Applied Ergonomics
• End Date:
  20100630
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:d4c7076b430133208bea16c6df6772bc9e7e9c8ddfa9d52867682b7bffffcd768569c7e98d65f1f426771c3125c5c9208abceda71c73000086a35cc1b9eb9d51
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/194155/cdc_194155_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 368.07 KB ]