Development of a decision support system for residential construction using panellised walls: Approach and preliminary results

Abstract

There is a high prevalence of work-related musculoskeletal disorders (WMSDs) among residential construction workers, yet control in this industry can be difficult for a number of reasons. A decision support system (DSS) is described here to allow early assessment of both ergonomic and productivity concerns, specifically by designers. Construction using prefabricated walls (panels) is the focus of current DSS development and is based conceptually on an existing ‘Safety in Construction Design’ model. A stepwise description of the development process is provided, including input from end users, taxonomy development and task analysis, construction worker input, detailed laboratory-based simulations and modelling/solution approaches and implementation. Preliminary results are presented for several steps. These results suggest that construction activities using panels can be efficiently represented, that some of these activities involve exposure to high levels of WMSD risk and that several assumptions are required to allow for ease of mathematical and computational implementation of the DSS. Successful development of such tools, which allow for proactive control of exposures, is argued as having substantial potential benefit.

Keywords:

• residential construction
• ergonomics
• task analysis
• risk assessment
• prevention through design

Acknowledgements

The authors thank Drs Kari Babski-Reeves, Michael Madigan, Kevin Granata and Ron Wakefield for their contributions to the conceptual design of this project. The authors also thank Guarav Chaudari, Michael Hurley, Bochen Jia and Brendan Johnston for their input during early phases of the work. This work was supported by Cooperative Agreement Number U19 OH008308 from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Its contents are solely the responsibility of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official views of CDC.