Ergonomic Risk Factors in Building Construction Sites in Mombasa County, Kenya

Safety is, without doubt, the most crucial investment we can make. And the question is not what it costs us, but what it saves. Work in the construction sites is ergonomically hazardous. Construction work requires numerous awkward postures, heavy lifting and other forceful exertions. Workers in the construction industry require physical stamina as their duties often require prolonged standing, bending, stooping, material handling, working in crowded/confined spaces and sometimes exposure to uncomfortable weather conditions. The overall aim of this research was to study Ergonomic Risk Factors (ERFs) in relation to Musculoskeletal Disorders in selected occupations; Carpenters, Mason, Roofers and Iron workers in both commercial and residential buildings in Mombasa County. Specifically, the study sought to establish the prevalence of musculoskeletal disorders in construction sites, establish awareness levels to ergonomic risk factors by the construction workers and also to determine the extent to which health and safety management system in building construction affects the occurrences of ergonomic injuries. With a sample size of 286 respondents (n=286), the study used questionnaires, interviews and observation to collect primary data. Both descriptive and inferential statistics were used in data analysis using SPPS version 20.0. Regression analysis was used to determine the strength of relationship between respondents’ characteristics (age, gender, education) and the prevalence of ERFs. Differences in age, weight, education and employment status were significantly associated with the prevalence of ERFs and hence MSDs. The findings showed that majority of the construction workforce are men at 94.5% and are hired on temporal & casual basis representing over 93% of the total workforce. The correlation coefficient (R)/beta value β of 0.786 at p=0.00 indicated that the ERFS ERFs leads to MSDs. The coefficient of determination R-Square of 0.618 means that 61.8% of the variance in ERFs was explained. From the result, there exist a statistically positive influence between ERFs that causes MSDs and workers experience, age, gender and education. It should be noted that, 178 (80.77%) of the workers termed construction sites as unsafe. It was established that 116 (52.56%) of the respondents reported inappropriate work method as the main cause of accidents in the construction sites. Regression analysis determined that when workers are exposed to ergonomic risk factors, the prevalence of MSDs would be at 70.8% (0.708) and further exposure to additional ERFs would lead to a 66.4% (0.664) increase in the prevalence of MSDs to construction workers. In addition, the study further established Chi value of 0.719 (p=0.000) showing a strong and undoubtable relationship between ERFs and MSDs. This 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 respective agencies.