Musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) and injuries are common in many workplaces, but none more so than on a construction site. These injuries, which impact muscles, tendons, ligaments and joints of the body, come from many different tasks annd jobs performed by people in the various construction trades. When you consider many of these workers are doing repetitive activies and bending, kneeling, squatting, lfiting and other motions repeatedly and for extended periods of time five or six days a week, it can be natural to expect that these “soft tissue” injuries would happen regularly.

That doesn’t mean we have to just accept the high rate of these injuries as “coming with the territory.” There are things we can do as safety officers and supervisors to mitigate these injuries so construction sites can be more productive and there is less risk of having major time-loss incidents on the job site.

[Image courtesy of Flickr user Stuart Cole via a Creative Commons license] While senior executives may be the furthest from the floor of a worksite, their engagement is safety will make or break the entire safety protocol at a company. There are some accountabilities that senior managements should embrace if safety is truly to be top priority at a company.

[Image courtesy of Flickr user Stuart Cole via a Creative Commons license]

Sang Choi, Lu Yuan and James Borchardt combined to author an informative article in the January 2016 article of Professional Safety magazine that discusses the construction trades and these MSDs that adversely affect productivity and health of workers. One of the ways of understanding how to help these workers is by understanding that these are tradesmen and not construction workers.

Many construction workers are specialists, and while it is always helpful to have a general workplace safety protocol in place for all workers, many of these MSDs and injuries will occur if these various specialties do not have their own safety procedures and ergonomics addressed on the worksite.

The next step, then, is to understand the seven different trades featured on any construction worksite, including an understanding of the different ways that each trade tests the various workers physically and in some ways, mentally. Let’s take a quick look at these trades and their various challenges.

  • Carpenters. This is the largest trade in the construction industry, and it is the area that sees higher illness and injury rates than the national average. The most common type of MSD for carpenters are strains and sprains that come from handling heavy material (lifting, lowering, pushing or pulling), awukward or sustained posture for an extended period of time, as well as repetitive motions using tools. Carpet installers are a subgroup of this, and they are often using or positioned on their knees, which lead to various knee strains and injuries.
  • Masons. Working with cement can be very tricky, what with pouring happening usually over a fairly large area to where a person outside the concrete zone would have to bend and stretch in order to work with the concrete so it dries and cures properly. Not to mention hauling heavy materials, including bags of concrete mix. There can be lower-back issues or problems with arms and shoulders due to bending, stretching and some crouching and kneeling could wreak havoc on knees as well.
  • Electricians. Wiring a structure certainly has its risks, not the least of which is, of course, electrocution or burns from live wires. These professionals also find themselves working in very tight spaces for long periods of time, which puts pressure on various parts of the body, as well as standing, stooping or working upside down in some cases. Common MSDs for this group include shoulder injuries and issues with the back, neck, hands and wrists.
  • Sheet metal workers. These are the workers who work with roofs, siding and gutters otuside and in the kitchen or overall duct work indoors. Common MSDs in this group of workers include hand/wrist injuries, neck/shoulder problems as well as lower-back stress from lifting and moving heavy materials and standing or stooping for extended periods.
  • Roofers. Injuries among roofers are at a higher rate than the U.S. average. As much of the work as at their feet and in all weather conditions because the work is outdoors, roofers can experience trouble with knees, back, wrists and fingers – as well as heat-related problems and burns from handling certain materials and possible slips and falls off ladders or scaffolding. Foot and ankle trouble increases among roofers who work on residential projects due to varying slopes of roofs; the steeper the slope, the larger the issue for the lower extremities.
  • Ironworkers. Those who work with rebar or reinforcing steel (like for bridges and buildings, as well as rebar that supports concrete molds) have a major concern with deadly falls in this work. As for MSDs, the most common reported issues involve injuries of of the back, shoulders, elbows, hands and knees. Sheet metal workers often work in awkward positions and confined spaces.
  • Plumbers. Plumbers, a group which also includes steamfitters and pipefitters, have a higher injury rate overall than the national average, and this includes a higher rate of MSDs of the knees. They are also subject to eye injuries and injuries from falls from ladders.

My next post will cover some strategies for helpign to prevent many of these MSDs in the various trades that are directly involved with construction.