Exploring physical exposures and identifying high-risk work tasks within the floor layer trade

Details

• Alternative Title:
  Appl Ergon
• Personal Author:
  McGaha, Jamie ; Miller, Kim ; Descatha, Alexis ; Welch, Laurie ; Buchholz, Bryan ; Evanoff, Bradley ; Dale, Ann Marie
• Description:
  Introduction ; Floor layers have high rates of musculoskeletal disorders yet few studies have examined their work exposures. This study used observational methods to describe physical exposures within floor laying tasks. ; Methods ; We analyzed 45 videos from 32 floor layers using Multimedia-Video Task Analysis software to determine the time in task, forces, postures, and repetitive hand movements for installation of four common flooring materials. We used the WISHA checklists to define exposure thresholds. ; Results ; Most workers (91%) met the caution threshold for one or more exposures. Workers showed high exposures in multiple body parts with variability in exposures across tasks and for different materials. Prolonged exposures were seen for kneeling, poor neck and low back postures, and intermittent but frequent hand grip forces. ; Conclusions ; Floor layers experience prolonged awkward postures and high force physical exposures in multiple body parts, which probably contribute to their high rates of musculoskeletal disorders.
• Subjects:
  • Adult
  • Construction Industry
  • Female
  • Floors and Floorcoverings
  • Humans
  • Male
  • Middle Aged
  • Movement
  • Musculoskeletal Diseases
  • Occupational Diseases
  More +
• Keywords:
  • musculoskeletal disorders
  • observational assessment
  • construction trades
• Source:
  Appl Ergon. 2013; 45(4):857-864
• Pubmed ID:
  24274895
• Pubmed Central ID:
  PMC3999260
• Document Type:
  Journal Article
• Funding:
  U60OH009762/ACL/ACL HHSUnited States/ ; R01 OH008017/OH/NIOSH CDC HHSUnited States/ ; U60 OH009762/OH/NIOSH CDC HHSUnited States/ ; UL1 RR024992/RR/NCRR NIH HHSUnited States/ ; 1 OH008017-01/OH/NIOSH CDC HHSUnited States/ ; UL1 TR000448/TR/NCATS NIH HHSUnited States/
• Volume:
  45
• Issue:
  4
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/29939/cdc_29939_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 191.83 KB]
• Collection(s):
  CDC Public Access
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha256:7d6a4d8873dc8a7e1a734c9116453c593eeeaada6092195fddb1d7a432757f58