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Manual handling of highway kerbs—focus group findings

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journal contribution
posted on 2010-02-16, 15:18 authored by Phil Bust, Alistair Gibb, Roger Haslam
The manual handling of concrete highway kerbs remains commonplace in the construction industry despite obvious risks to operatives. A study was commissioned to find out why the operation still includes manual handling, what alternatives exist and how the organisation of the work affects exposure to risk. Although this study involved a literature review and visits to examine manufacture, supply and installation of kerbs, the focus groups which were held with industry professionals to discuss manufacture, installation methods, design and training are reported here. Related published research was very limited and the visits confirmed manual handling to be widespread for installation but eliminated or controlled in other areas of the process. Risks to health of construction workers remained as they were not considered in the design of the product, design of the work or identified and controlled through risk assessments. Focus group findings highlighted manufacturer’s myopia, lack of installation knowledge of designers and shortfalls in training of installation work. Recommendations from the research are that a pro-active approach to health needs to be adopted by the manufacturers of heavy construction products. Designers of work 2 requiring the use of heavy products need to have more experience of site operations, and training of manual handling awareness should be performed at all levels in construction organisations.

History

School

  • Architecture, Building and Civil Engineering

Citation

BUST, P.D., GIBB, A.G.F. and HASLAM, R., 2005. Manual handling of highway kerbs—focus group findings. Applied Ergonomics, 36(4), pp. 417-425

Publisher

© Elsevier

Version

  • AM (Accepted Manuscript)

Publication date

2005

Notes

This article was accepted for publication in the journal, Applied ergonomics [© Elsevier], which is available online at: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.apergo.2004.05.005

ISSN

0003-6870

Language

  • en