Evaluation of Musculoskeletal pain, Health and Safety measures among workers at construction sites in Port Harcourt, Nigeria
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.60787/tnhj.v22i4.622Keywords:
Musculoskeletal Pain, Health & Safety Measures, Construction Workers, Nigeria, Port HarcourtAbstract
Background: Musculoskeletal disorders constitute a major health challenge for construction workers and the general population. The study evaluated musculoskeletal pain, health and safety measures among workers at construction sites in the Rivers State University Teaching Hospital, and two of the flyover bridges sites in the last quarter of 2021.
Methods: A descriptive cross-sectional study was carried out among workers at construction sites in the Rivers State University Teaching Hospital and two flyover-bridges in Port Harcourt Nigeria. Questionnaire was used to obtain data that was analyzed with the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) version 20.0.
Results: A total of seventy-five (75) respondents were involved I n the study. More than half (50%) of respondents had pain at the neck, shoulder, waist, and wrist/fingers not allowing them to hold objects firmly. Twenty-nine (38.7%) respondents had undergone training for safety measures before start of work at the construction site. Sixty-three (84.0%) had worked in awkward positions at site. Forty-one (54.7%) respondents opined that PPEs were not provided, and 47 (62.7%) did not use PPEs at work. Complaints of injury was often taken seriously at some construction sites as declared by 32 (42.7%) respondents; however, 20 (26.7%) respondents had a contrary opinion.
Conclusion: Musculoskeletal pain is a common problem affecting most construction site workers following workplace tasks or injuries sustained. There was no uniformity in training and conduct on health and safety issues. There is need for a regulatory framework to ensure compliance with health and safety measures at construction sites.
Downloads
References
Secretariat I. INTERNATIONAL ASSOCIATION FOR THE STUDY OF PAIN.
De Inocencio J. Epidemiology of musculoskeletal pain in primary care. Archives of disease in childhood. 2004;89(5):431-4.
Akinpelu A, Odole A, Odejide A. Prevalence and pattern of musculoskeletal pain in a rural community in Southwestern Nigeria. Internet Journal of Epidemiology. 2010;8(2):593-605.
Statista B. Wearable device sales revenue worldwide from 2016 to 2022 (in billion US dollars). Statista Inc: New York, NY, USA. 2017.
Dantata S. General overview of the Nigerian construction industry: Massachusetts Institute of Technology; 2007.
Alli BO. Fundamental principles of occupational health andsafety Second edition. Geneva, International Labour Organization. 2008;15:2008.
Lingard H. Occupational health and safety in the construction industry. Construction management and economics. 2013;31(6):505-14.
Singh A, Hinze J, Coble RJ. Implementation of Safety and health on Construction Sites: CRC Press; 1999.
Hamid ARA, Abd Majid MZ, Singh B. Causes of accidents at construction sites. Malaysian journal of civil engineering. 2008;20(2).
Kadiri Z, Nden T, Avre G, Oladipo T, Edom A, Samuel P, et al. Causes and effects of accidents on construction sites (a case study of some selected construction firms in Abuja FCT Nigeria). IOSR Journal of Mechanical and Civil Engineering. 2014;11(5):66-72.
Orji Solomon E, Enebe Eucharia C, Onoh Felix E. Accidents in building construction sites in Nigeria; a case of Enugu state. International journal of innovative research and development. 2016;5(4):244-8.
Osei-Asibey D, Ayarkwa J, Acheampong A, Adinyira E, Amoah P. An Examination of Causes of Accidents and Hazards in the Ghanaian Construction Industry. Open Journal of Safety Science and Technology. 2021;11(2):66-88.
Umer W, Antwi-Afari MF, Li H, Szeto GP, Wong AY. The prevalence of musculoskeletal symptoms in the construction industry: a systematic review and meta-analysis. International archives of occupational and environmental health. 2018;91(2):125-44.
Merlino LA, Rosecrance JC, Anton D, Cook TM. Symptoms of musculoskeletal disorders among apprentice construction workers. Applied occupational and environmental hygiene. 2003;18(1):57-64.
Yi W, Chan A. Health profile of construction workers in Hong Kong. International journal of
environmental research and public health. 2016;13(12):1232.
Udo UE, Usip EE, Asuquo CF. Effect of lack of adequate attention to safety measures on construction sites in Akwa Ibom State, Nigeria. Journal of Earth Sciences and Geotechnical Engineering. 2016;6(1):113-21.
Sriperumbuduri S, Hiremath S. The case for cautious consumption: NSAIDs in chronic kidney disease. Current opinion in nephrology and hypertension. 2019;28(2):163-70.
Vadivel N, Trikudanathan S, Singh A. Analgesic nephropathy. Kidney international. 2007;72(4):517-20.
Bjarnason I. Gastrointestinal safety of NSAIDs and over‐the‐counter analgesics. International Journal of Clinical Practice. 2013;67:37-42.
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2022 Journal and Publisher
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
The Journal is owned, published and copyrighted by the Nigerian Medical Association, River state Branch. The copyright of papers published are vested in the journal and the publisher. In line with our open access policy and the Creative Commons Attribution License policy authors are allowed to share their work with an acknowledgement of the work's authorship and initial publication in this journal.
This is an open access journal which means that all content is freely available without charge to the user or his/her institution. Users are allowed to read, download, copy, distribute, print, search, or link to the full texts of the articles in this journal without asking prior permission from the publisher or the author.
The use of general descriptive names, trade names, trademarks, and so forth in this publication, even if not specifically identified, does not imply that these names are not protected by the relevant laws and regulations. While the advice and information in this journal are believed to be true and accurate on the date of its going to press, neither the authors, the editors, nor the publisher can accept any legal responsibility for any errors or omissions that may be made. The publisher makes no warranty, express or implied, with respect to the material contained herein.
TNHJ also supports open access archiving of articles published in the journal after three months of publication. Authors are permitted and encouraged to post their work online (e.g, in institutional repositories or on their website) within the stated period, as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as earlier and greater citation of published work (See The Effect of Open Access). All requests for permission for open access archiving outside this period should be sent to the editor via email to editor@tnhjph.com.
