Journal
APPLIED ERGONOMICS
Volume 43, Issue 3, Pages 574-581Publisher
ELSEVIER SCI LTD
DOI: 10.1016/j.apergo.2011.09.002
Keywords
Postural stability; Cardiovascular stress; Construction scaffold
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Work performed on scaffolds carries the risk of falling that disproportionately threatens the safety and health of novice construction workers. Hence, objective measures of the postural stability, cardiovascular stress, and subjective difficulty in maintaining postural balance were evaluated for four expert and four novice construction workers performing a manual task in a standing posture on a scaffold with and without safety handrails at two different elevation heights. Based on a multivariate analysis of variance, the experience, scaffold height, and presence of a handrail were found to significantly affect measures of the postural stability and cardiovascular stress. At a lower level of worker experience, a higher scaffold height, and in the absence of a handrail (which may correspond to higher risk of a fall), postural stability was significantly reduced, while cardiovascular stress and subjective difficulties in maintaining postural balance increased. We emphasize the importance of training and handrails for fall prevention at construction sites. (C) 2011 Elsevier Ltd and The Ergonomics Society. All rights reserved.
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