Status Survey of Occupational Risk Factors of Manual Material Handling Tasks at a Construction Site in India

Abstract

This paper discusses the details of a survey undertaken on the occupational risk factors of a number of Manual Material Handling (MMH) tasks at a construction site in India. Specifically, a number of MMH-related ergonomic problems such as pain in back, shoulders and wrists, sprain injuries, MSDs, severe fatigue, improper design and unsafe practices prevalent among Indian construction workers are the main factors making construction an extremely risky worksystem with work-related injuries frequently occurring. Data related to personal details of the workers, characteristics of MMH tasks, types of tools and equipment used, and types of occupational health problems are collected through a questionnaire-based survey of 278 workers. Descriptive statistical analysis of the responses, ordinal regression, and classification and regression trees (CART) techniques are used to model the dependent response variables that is pain in neck, shoulders, elbows, wrists, spine, hip, knees and ankle joint in terms of the exploratory variables for the group of construction workers for various occupations of the construction workers. The potential benefit of carrying such a survey lies in developing appropriate guidelines for construction workers to ensure a sustainable change in the construction worksystems with reduction of occupational hazards (particularly MSDs) to a large extent, and to improve health, safety and performance of workers under prevailing construction work environment in India. The results show that the occupational risk factors are strongly associated with construction occupations, and MMH tasks, such as shoveling and lifting are considered to be very critical in this respect.