“Ergonomic strain and injury refers to physical discomfort and damage caused by the improper design or the improper use of tools, equipment, work spaces and tasks,” says Erin Linde, director of the BC Construction Safety Alliance’s health and safety services.
“They can occur when the body is subjected to repetitive tasks, awkward postures, excessive force and other ergonomic risk factors. Some examples are musculoskeletal injuries, such as carpal tunnel syndrome, tendonitis and back injuries.”
Samantha Shill, corporate health, safety and environment (HSE) lead for RAM Consulting Ltd. in Vancouver, says many people think of ergonomics as readjusting their desk or buying a fancy chair with lumbar support.
“It is really the science behind designing environments, products and systems to create comfortable, safe and efficient interactions between people and their surroundings,” says Shill.
Ergonomic injuries may not present themselves right away.
“On the worksite we tend to see ergonomic injuries from heavy lifting and awkward positions, repetitive motions and vibrations from equipment,” says Shill. “These most often present as back, neck or shoulder strains, as well as musculoskeletal issues.”
In construction offices, she says it’s common to overlook signs of ergonomic strain until they become painful.
By cutting in half the time workers are up on ladders and lifts, or bending and sorting materials, we can also cut in half the strains and injuries,
— Ken Brodie
Modern Niagara Vancouver
“Many of us have experienced sitting for hours at a computer, only to realize later that our shoulders are up near our ears, creating knots that can take days to ease,” says Shill.
Engaging in repetitive motions, such as typing for a long time, may contribute to such conditions as carpal tunnel syndrome and discomfort in the hands and wrists.
Modern Niagara Vancouver (MNV), which does plumbing and mechanical work and employs a lot of plumbers and sheet metal workers, experienced a streak of ergonomic strains.
When MNV was about to start work on the new St. Paul’s Hospital in Vancouver where there are 500 workers, it thought seriously about the ergonomic aspects of the job before it began, lest ergonomic claims increase in number and severity.
“Engineering controls were the most effective way to mitigate ergonomic risks,” says Ken Brodie, MNV’s senior HSE specialist. “They’re preferred to administrative controls and personal protective equipment because they are designed to remove the hazard at the source, before it comes in contact with the worker.”
In its fabrication shop, MNV installed roller and table systems on all of its band saws and pipe joining machines.
“We installed colour-coded gantry cranes and electronic hoists in our stainless steel shop, welding bays and loading docks,” says Brodie. “And we repositioned worktables to eliminate excessively long reaches and make it possible to work in neutral positions.”
Instead of its workers manhandling pipes and duct work into shafts and ceiling, MNV also began to prefabricate entire systems in its shop.
“Construction projects have enough challenges as it is, such as scheduling, labour shortages, space constraints and material management, so we use VDC (virtual design and construction), BIM and prefabrication to boost productivity before the project even hits the jobsite,” says Brodie.
Prefabrication makes the job safer and reduces strains and injuries because it reduces installation time, rework and waste, he says.
“By cutting in half the time workers are up on ladders and lifts, or bending and sorting materials, we can also cut in half the strains and injuries during the installation process,” says Brodie.
MNV’s initiative paid off, as the company won a gold award in a 2023 Canadian ergonomics competition.
In addition to gaining industry recognition for its efforts, the company recorded only two ergonomic claims between February 2021 and July 2023, despite working 403,601 man-hours in 2022 alone.
The company’s WorkSafeBC experience rating also improved. It went from a 27.7 per cent surcharge in 2022 to a 2.2 per cent discount in 2023.
Prescillia (Percy) Chua, manager of prevention risk management services in WorkSafeBC’s prevention services division, says injury rates in the construction industry were higher compared to B.C.’s general industry between 2013 and 2022.
“But ergonomic injuries in construction have been going down steadily and significantly,” says Chua. “It’s a very complex and challenging issue, but we’ve making progress thanks to the use of new technologies, changing employer attitudes to workplace safety and greater worker participation in risk identification, assessment and control.”
Chua says the B.C. construction industry has been doing many things right with ergonomic injuries, but we could be doing even better in the future.
“We can get injury rates down even further if the industry and WorkSafeBC work together on this important health and safety challenge,” she says.
Recent Comments
comments for this post are closed