Overexertion Injuries in Construction

Abstract

Overexertion injuries are the single largest classification of injury in construction, accounting for about 24% of all injuries. Overexertion injuries generally occur as a result of performing a given task as planned. While overexertion injuries are not intentional, the underlying causes of these injuries are built into the prescribed tools and work methods. If the causes can be identified, it should be possible to engineer them out of the work. This paper presents a summary of research to investigate 65 construction activities for the presence of risk factors for overexertion injuries. Each activity has been broken into its constituent tasks, and each task has been analyzed for each of seven generic risk factors for overexertion injuries: (1) repetitive exertions; (2) static exertions; (3) forceful exertions; (4) localized mechanical stresses; (5) posture stresses; (6) low temperature; and (7) vibration. Ratings for each risk factor have been made on a three point scale: insignificant, moderate, and high. This analysis shows that virtually all construction activities have moderate-to-high ratings for at least one risk factor, and thereby place craft workers at increased risk for overexertion injuries and disorders.