Improving Occupational Health of Indian Construction Workers: A Biomechanical Evaluation Approach

An ergonomic study of manual material handling tasks in construction needs to address a number of manual material handling task-related problems such as pains in the back, shoulders and wrists, strain and sprain injuries, musculoskeletal disorders, severe fatigue and loss of energy of the workers and those acquired from improperly designed safety gadgets being used. Biomechanical modelling may help an analyst identify work system/manual material handling task-related factors and causes for such problems explicitly. In this paper, the details about the biomechanical modelling and analysis of a select manual material handling task at a construction site in India are presented. Based on a review of literature on available biomechanical modelling approaches, an appropriate biomechanical evaluation methodology is used for the select task. Results as obtained on the current status of occupational risk factors and musculoskeletal disorders among construction workers engaged in the task indicate the need for potential ergonomic performance improvement of critical construction jobs for which compressive force at L5/S1 disc and other joints is beyond their threshold values. The major findings from the study with observations from a real construction site match closely with the opinion of the workers and are indicative of the validity of biomechanical evaluation methodology as proposed.