ABSTRACT
INTRODUCTION: The accident of falling from a height is high among construction workers. Construction workers do not use harnesses. Thus, the present study was conducted to identify the factors affecting the non-use of harnesses among construction workers in Tehran, Iran. MATERIALS AND METHODS: In this study was conducted by interviewing professors and construction workers in order to identify factors affecting the non-use of harness. Factors influencing the non-use of safety harnesses were identified from the workers' point of view. The obtained data were classified and coded using MAXQDA 10 software. After that, the most essential, effective and powerful factors were identified using the degree and intersectionality of social network analysis. RESULTS: According to the interview results, 27 factors were determined as factors affecting the non-use of harnesses by construction workers and divided into four main groups. The four groups were harness design, management factors, harness comfort, and attitudinal factors. Based on the results of the degree centrality, the non-ergonomic design and attitude of the harness inefficiency were identified as the most influential and powerful factors. The betweenness indicator also showed that the non-ergonomic design could mediate other factors in the non-use of the harness. CONCLUSION: The findings showed that by considering various factors such as considering more comfort in the design of the ergonomic harness, it produced a better product. Also, the use of safety harnesses by workers increases.
Subject(s)
Construction Industry , Occupational Health , Humans , Iran , AttitudeABSTRACT
Purpose: The present study aimed to design a quantitative tool to evaluate the comfort and usability of working at height safety harnesses. Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted in both qualitative and quantitative sections in 2022. The research steps included field interviews, an expert panel, and compiling the questionnaires for assessing the comfort and usability of the harness. The items of tools were designed based on the qualitative part of the research and review of the literature. The face and content validity of the instrument were assessed. Its reliability was also evaluated using the test-retest method. Results: Two tools were developed including a comfort questionnaire with 13 questions and a usability questionnaire with 10 questions. The Cronbach's alpha coefficients of these instruments were 0.83 and 0.79, respectively. Additionally, the content and face validity indices were 0.97 and 3.89 for the comfort questionnaire and 0.991 and 4 for the usability questionnaire, respectively. Conclusions: The designed tools showed appropriate validity and reliability and could be used to evaluate the comfort and usability of safety harnesses. On the other hand, the criteria used in the designed tools could be employed in user-centered harness designs.
ABSTRACT
Traffic police riders are exposed to prolonged static postures causing significant angular deviation of the musculoskeletal, including the lumbar angle (L1-L5). This postural alteration contributes to awkward posture, musculoskeletal disorders and spinal injury, especially in the lower back area, as it is one of the most severe modern diseases nowadays. Thus, the study aimed to evaluate the effect of lumbar support with a built-in massager system on spinal angle profiles among traffic police riders. A randomised controlled trial (pre-testpost-test control design) was used to assess spinal angle pattern while riding the high-powered motorcycle for 20 minutes. Twenty-four traffic police riders were randomly selected to participate and 12 riders were assigned to the control group and 12 riders to the experimental group. The pre-test and post-test were conducted at a one-week interval. Each participant was required to wear a TruPosture Smart Shirt (to monitor spinal posture). The TruPosture Apps recorded the spinal angle pattern. The data indicated that the police riders using motorcycle seat with lumbar support and built-in massager system showed a huge improvement in maintaining posture which only involves slight spinal angle deviation changes from the spinal reference angle throughout the 20 minutes ride. The data collected then were analysed using the Mann-Whitney test and Wilcoxon signed-ranked test to verify a statistically significant difference between and within the control and experimental groups. There were significant differences in all sensors between the control group and experimental groups (p<0.05) and within the experimental group. According to the findings, it can be said that the ergonomic intervention prototype (lumbar support with built-in massager system) successfully helps to maintain and improve the natural curve of the spinal posture. This indirectly would reduce the risk of developing musculoskeletal disorders and spinal injury among traffic police riders.
