Effects of simulated masonry work on physical and cognitive performance: a pilot study.

Details

• Personal Author:
  Cavuoto L ; Corbisiero R ; de Adana IGR ; Napp N ; Thangavelu V ; Zhang Q
• Description:
  Working in the construction industry is one of the most dangerous occupations. From workforce statistics of the U.S. Department of Labor, there are approx. 7 million employees in the construction industry, in which 1.5 million in construction of buildings and 1 million engaged in heavy construction. According to the 2016 statistics by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) there were 197,700 reported non-fatal injuries and 5,700 reported illnesses in the construction industry, resulting in 24,650 days away from work. Within the construction sector, masonry and concrete jobs lead to the highest rates of overexertion at 66.5 and 49.2 per 10,000 workers (BLS, 2016). Handling heavy loads, sometimes upwards of 80 pounds, remains a common characteristic of many construction jobs. A recent survey of construction workers showed that 49% reported being "tired some days" and 10% reported being "tired most days or every day" (Zhang et al., 2015). These workers reported high difficulty with physical and cognitive function as a result. Previous studies have considered how physical exercise affects cognitive performance (Brisswalter, Collardeau, & René, 2002) and how physical workload and difficulty of tasks influence on human cognitive processing (Kamijo, Nishihira, Higashiura, & Kuroiwa, 2007). It has demonstrated that both the intensity and duration of the physical exercise are related with cognitive performance (Abd-Elfattah, Abdelazeim, & Elshennawy, 2015). However, few studies have focused on how heavy physical demands will affect cognitive performance, particularly with construction work. This is of particular concern as unsafe worker behavior plays an important role in safety accidents and this unsafe behavior has been linked to cognitive failures (Fang et al., 2016). Therefore, this study aimed to answer the following research questions: RQ1: How does concrete block masonry work affect physical strength and performance? RQ2: How does this masonry work affect construction workers' cognitive performance? It was hypothesized that with time, physical workload would lead to muscle fatigue. As an effect of the physical workload and fatigue, cognitive performance was expected to degrade. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Engineering Mining Occupational Health Safety Safety Management Workplace
• Keywords:
  Musculoskeletal disorders; MSD; Biomechanics; Muscle function; Construction workers; Masons; Physiological effects; Cognitive function; Physical exercise
• ISSN:
  1071-1813
• Publisher:
  Human Factors and Ergonomics Society
• Document Type:
  Text
• Funding:
  Grant
• Genre:
  Proceedings
• Place as Subject:
  New York ; OSHA Region 2
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Volume:
  62
• Issue:
  1
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20065863
• Citation:
  Proceedings of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society 62nd Annual Meeting, October 1-5, 2018, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Santa Monica, CA: Human Factors and Ergonomics Society, 2018 Sep; 62(1):1749-1750
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2018
• Performing Organization:
  Mount Sinai School of Medicine
• Peer Reviewed:
  True
• Start Date:
  20050701
• Source Full Name:
  Proceedings of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society 62nd Annual Meeting, October 1-5, 2018, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
• End Date:
  20270630
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:5025a59426fc78c8e3d53108fd064f9532af2b653de8764d406742d07feba64928d41c41497e5a5f1903110b33acd4e8df9f151e05152ae4390a58b3463239a3
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/249578/cdc_249578_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 904.68 KB ]