Ergonomic Risk Factors among workers in building construction sites in Mombasa County

Abstract

Safety is, without doubt, the most crucial investment we can make. And the question is not what it costs us, but what it saves. Building construction activities are predominantly physical in nature and are usually executed in an uncomfortable environment at a fast pace. Construction work is ergonomically hazardous, as it requires numerous awkward postures, heavy lifting and other forceful exertions. This workplaces have a varying amount of stress on the musculoskeletal system (muscle, tendons, and ligaments) of the workers and increase the potential risk of work-related musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs). The main objective of this research was to evaluate Ergonomic Risk Factors (ERFs) in selected occupations; Carpenters, Painters, Plasters, Mason, Roofers, Steel fixers and Foremen in buildings construction in Mombasa County, Kenya. The target population in this study was 1,364 building construction workers drawn from the construction sites that were registered with NCA by the time of data collection. This was a descriptive cross-sectional study design. A Self-Reported Ergonomic Hazard Assessment checklist method was used. Stratified random sampling was used to obtain a sample size of 309. All the respondent were above 18 years and had worked in building construction for over one year. A standardized Nordic questionnaire was administered to collect data on ERFs from the respondents. Additionally, observation checklist was used to record workers activities on site. Data collected was subjected to statistical analysis. SPSS Version 20.0 was used to analyze quantitative data. Regression analysis was applied to determine the strength of the relationship between ERFs and the prevalence of MSDs. It was established that the majority of workers 97.1% are exposed to awkward posture and 90.3% exposed to manually handled materials. Back pain/waist pain with a Mean Score (MS) of 4.48 is the most affected body part, followed by general body aches and sore muscles & joints and at 4.43 and 4.45 respectively. It was also established that inappropriate work methods (41.7%) and faulty equipment (34.3%) and the major contributors to ERFs experience in workers. Additionally, the study established that 95% of the construction sites had no ergonomic program in place and 87% of the construction sites had no weight lifting restriction. Regression analysis established that there is a close relationship between ERFs and the occurrences of MSDs at 0.622 (62.2%). An increase in ERFs subjection will lead to a 70.9% increase in the occurrence of MSDs. Additionally, the regression model R square showed that 80.1% of the variation was explained. A Chi value of 0.773 (p=0.000) was obtained showing a strong relationship between ERFs and MSDs. From the study, it is evident that building construction work is not an ergonomically safe workplace. Therefore it will be important to implement ergonomic intervention at construction sites. Additionally, the study recommends the adoption of a more proactive and comprehensive management mechanism to enforce the existing safety and health regulations in construction sites. This should be achieved through regular training of all the workers with regards to ergonomic risk factors, and Work-Related Musculoskeletal Disorders and enforcement of both NCA 2011 and OSHA 2007 by the enforcement agencies.