Ergonomic Hazards During Concrete Reinforcement Work at a Large Highway Construction Site

Details

• Personal Author:
  Buchholz B ; Paquet V ; Wellman H
• Description:
  Concrete reinforcement (rebar) workers or rodmen are often required to perform their job while in awkward trunk postures and many of their activities involve heavy manual material handling. Subsequently, they have high rates of low back problems. Despite the increased risk that these workers have to low back injuries and other musculoskeletal disorders, the ergonomic hazards they experience have been less clearly established. The objective of this study then was to characterize the ergonomic risk factors in concrete reinforcement work on a large heavy highway construction project. PATH (Posture, Activities, Tools, Handling), a work sampling-based method, was used to quantify the percentage of time workers spend in various postures (trunk, arms, legs, head/neck), perform activities (e.g., manual material handling and hand postures/activities), use tools and handle loads. Workers were sampled randomly at fixed 45-second intervals. Posture codes are based on the Ovako Working Posture Analyzing System (OWAS) and the analysis is customized for each construction trade and operation. A total of 1973 observations were made of 19 concrete reinforcement workers performing 5 major job tasks: 1) horizontal rebar work; 2) vertical rebar work; 3) ventilation rebar work; 4) preparation work; and 5) supervising. Non-neutral trunk postures were observed frequently (>30%) for all job tasks except supervising, and were most frequent during ventilation rebar work (57.6%). Arm postures at or above the shoulders were most frequent (9.7%) during vertical rebar work and kneeling postures were most common (4.2%) during horizontal rebar work. Loads greater than 22.7 kg (50 lb) were most often handled during horizontal rebar work (4.2%). MMH activities were the most common activities for all job tasks (>20%), except supervising. Tying rebar was the second most frequent activity during ventilation rebar work (20.9%) and vertical rebar work (13.4%). Walking was the second most frequent activity during preparation work (19.4%) and horizontal rebar work (11.6%). This study demonstrates a task-based method for systematically evaluating the ergonomic hazards during concrete reinforcement work. The results can be used to target specific job tasks or activities which require ergonomic intervention. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Construction Industry Ergonomics Musculoskeletal Diseases Musculoskeletal System Occupational Health Safety
• Keywords:
  Construction Workers Low Back Disorders Manual Materials Handling MSD Musculoskeletal Disorders Posture
• Publisher:
  American Industrial Hygiene Association
• Document Type:
  Text
• Funding:
  Cooperative Agreement
• Genre:
  Abstract or Summary
• Place as Subject:
  District of Columbia ; Massachusetts ; OSHA Region 1 ; OSHA Region 3
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Pages in Document:
  32
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20055375
• Citation:
  American Industrial Hygiene Conference and Exposition, May 20-24, 1996, Washington, D.C. Fairfax, VA: American Industrial Hygiene Association, 1996 May; :32
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  1996
• Performing Organization:
  Center to Protect Workers' Rights
• Peer Reviewed:
  False
• Start Date:
  19920930
• Source Full Name:
  American Industrial Hygiene Conference and Exposition, May 20-24, 1996, Washington, D.C.
• End Date:
  19950929
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:855b0990e62dd5f6b6e5302e1be6cb3d74b432588db18390330cef91f13d6a5b0bc428a376a3db196a84f6a1fc7ef906521eb70d5521a331f06142f7e6b2c8f8
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/213246/cdc_213246_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 580.98 KB ]