Abstract
The economic growth of a country is directly linked to the growth of several sectors, in which the construction sector is prominent. The objective was to investigate by means of ergonomic analysis the external coating activity performed on building façades, due to its high degree of difficulty. The methodological approach was composed by a review of the literature and quantitative research using the OCRA checklist method, highlighting the biomechanical overload risk analysis of the external coating activity in mortar based on International Standard ISO 11228-3: 2009. The data collection took place in construction sites in Brazil in the cities of Ponta Grossa-PR and Porto Alegre-RS applying the mentioned method. The results of demand illustrate the concepts presented in the review, as well as the confirmation of the incidence of pain and lesions in the upper limbs and the repetitiveness in the analyzed activities. The results indicate that: a) the analysis of the chosen activity resulted in a high level of risk applying the immediate intervention, with improvements; b) proof by calculating the risk of biomechanical overload to implement improvements in the company; c) evidence that the improvements resulted in a reduction of ergonomic risks by more than 50%, with improvement in posture and strength requirements. In turn, the relevance of this work is highlighted, as it enables the development of public and private policies in the area of ergonomics with the purpose of developing the sector. In the end, the work opens up possibilities for the continuity of the research on the addressed topic.
Highlights
Construction workers (CW) hold a high risk of developing work-related musculoskeletal disorders (WMSD) due to the high level of physical effort required in their daily activities at construction sites
The purpose of this research is to use the OCRA method based on the International Standard ISO 112283:2009 which is recommended as the preferred method of repetitive action analysis, because it considers all the relevant factors applicable in the analysis of complex tasks, based on extensive epidemiological data (extensive database of occurrence of WMSDs in relevant populations of exposed works (ISO 11228-3:2009)
The preliminary epidemiological study of the types of disorders and pathologies presented by the group of workers analyzed, clearly showed that the main problem was musculoskeletal disorders in the upper limbs
Summary
According to Chan et al (2016) WMSDs are caused by the high risk of activities and by the complex nature of the civil construction, in addition to the large number of micro, small and medium companies that are not interested, do not have expertise and not even the investment resources to prevent work-related disorders, making it difficult to manage such risks. In this context, researches from Salas, Vi, Reider and Moore (2016), Yuan, Buchholz, Punnett and Kriebel (2016), Eaves, Gyi and Gibb (2016) and West et al (2016), among others, show that ergonomic actions are performed to identify the ergonomic risk factors that justify the use of ergonomic knowledge in several areas of work. In this way WMSDs can be defined as "injuries to muscles, tendons, joints and nerves caused or aggravated by work"
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