Information on this page is drawn from "Ergonomics Best Practices for the Construction Industry" published by the Ohio Bureau of Workers' Compensation
Situation
Martin Masonry is a construction company specializing in high-end residential masonry veneer applications of brick, block and stone. This includes the building of chimneys, fireplaces and structural masonry. Risk factors include lifting, carrying, bending, shoulder deviations, static stress and fatigue, etc. The greatest risk factors stem from the repetitive overhead heavy lifting of brick, block and mortar up multiple levels of scaffold. Lifting scaffolding plank, assembling and disassembling scaffold, as well as the continual bending required of masonry helpers to transport materials on the scaffold also create additional risk factors.
Solution
Martin Masonry purchased a Skytrack 6036 telescope material lift and walk-through scaffolding. The Skytrack material lift allows the employees to lift pallets of bricks or block up onto the scaffolding without manually handling the material. Previously, employees would lift and carry small amounts of brick/block onto scaffolding. This new equipment reduces, and in some cases eliminates, the manual lifting of materials, thereby reducing the employee's exposure to risk factors, such as lifting, carrying, bending, shoulder deviations, static loads and fatigue. The walk-through scaffolding allows employees to move materials from one end of the scaffolding to another without having to climb over cross bars or support bars.
Results
• Martin Masonry was awarded $40,000 for its equipment that was estimated at $64,735.80.
• At 13 months after putting the material lift and the scaffolding into place, CTD incidence rates, lost days due to CTDs and restricted days due to CTDs remained at zero.
• Turnover rate decreased from 317 to 129 per 200,000 hours worked — a 59-percent improvement.
• Average risk factor scores for the affected tasks changed from 35.3 to 19.0 — a 46-percent reduction.
• Average number of bricks per mason increased from 575 to 625 — an 8.7 percent productivity gain.