Construction sector is one of the highest risk industries contributing to the development of work-related musculoskeletal disorders. In general construction activities involve the composition of various construction trades, such as painting, plastering, concreting, paving and bricklaying. Different construction trades workers are exposed to risk factors depending on their job and task. Construction workers perform many physically demanding task including cleaning and preparing construction sites, digging trenches, operating power tools, bending machines, loading and unloading building materials and mixing and placing concrete. These activities expose workers to ergonomic risk factors (ERFs) such as awkward posture, repetitive motions, frequent heavy lifting and hand, arm and whole-body vibration which finally were affected the body muscle. Thus, this study was conducted among construction trade workers in particulars of concreters with the objective to identify the critical task or activities that affect the muscle of the body that is associated with the ERFs. The data for this research was collected via observation to the construction workers for the specific trades which involved concreters in Klang Valley. The finding of this research revealed that ERF (i.e. repetitive movement, awkward posture, and physical contact stress) associated with concreters' work is one of the major contributors of muscular disorders to the concrete body. These factors greatly affected the body muscle, nerves and tissue of the neck, shoulder, upper and lower back, upper and lower limbs and other parts of the body.
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In-Text Citation: (Lop, Salleh, Zain, & Saidin, 2019)
To Cite this Article: Lop, N. S. B., Salleh, N. M., Zain, F. M. Y., & Saidin, M. T. (2019). Ergonomic Risk Factors (ERF) and their Association with Musculoskeletal Disorders (MSDs) among Malaysian Construction Trade Workers: Concreters. International Journal of Academic Research in Business and Social Sciences, 9(9), 1269-1282.
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