Some links between accidents, postural load and accessibility in chemical plant maintenance

Abstract

The maintenance tasks of two chemical plants were investigated in this pilot study, special attention being given to occupational accidents, postural load and the link between postures and the occurrence of accidents. It was found that the accident rate was higher in maintenance work than in operational tasks. The proportion of strenuous postures, classified by the observational OWAS method, was generally high in daily maintenance (40%), and was even higher in accident situations (55%), according to the victims interviewed. The employees also reported a high prevalence of musculo-skeletal disorders, particularly in the neck, shoulders and low back. When the work postures of the daily maintenance and accident situations were compared, statistically significant differences were found in the position of the back and in the use of force. The low location of the maintenance points and the excessive use of force were found to be among the problems often giving rise to accident situations. Since accessibility factors are one of the important predictors behind the postural load, the prevention of both strenuous postures and occupational accidents in maintenance requires attention to be paid, among other things, to design improvements for providing better accessibility to maintenance points in both machinery and plant lay-out.