Ergonomics and workplace design for industrialized construction

工业化建筑是解决传统建筑中几个问题的有力策略，特别是在成本、风险和浪费方面。在工业化建筑中，工人在受控的工厂环境中工作，而不是在现场花费大量时间。然而，工业化建筑过程的许多方面仍然涉及过度的体力消耗，并有潜在的伤害。此外，为了实现利润最大化，需要不断改进运营生产流程以及工作场所设计和运营任务。这些变化和改进可能会导致与工作相关的人体工程学问题被忽视，这些问题除了所需的体力消耗外，还可能导致与工作相关的肌肉骨骼疾病（WMSDs）或非致命伤害。此外，根据加拿大工人赔偿委员会协会（Association of Workers’Compensation Boards of Canada）的数据，2016年，加拿大工人提出的损失时间索赔价值2.4亿美元，其中制造业和建筑业占24.32%。因此，开展前瞻性人体工程学风险评估以避免潜在的大规模杀伤性武器和伤害至关重要。有几种途径可以改善工作空间的物理条件，从而提高安全性和生产率。在接下来的五年里，拟议的研究计划将开发一个系统的人体工程学风险评估，并引入生产过程的变化，以提高工业建筑的生产率和安全性。拟议研究计划的长期目标是通过将人体工程学思想引入工作场所设计，积极减少工作场所伤害和索赔，提高生产力。该计划有四个短期目标：(1)调查系统的生理和心理需求分析，以评估操作任务对工人的需求；(2)针对工业化建筑的作业任务，提出一种智能的、预定的运动时间系统，并进一步评估工作场所的生产率；(3)建立快速人机工程学风险评估体系，识别、量化和消除作业任务的人机工程学风险；(4)开发全面的工效学和生产力评估与管理系统。本研究的结果将有助于将人体工程学思想整合到工作场所设计中。人体工程学和生产力评估的早期应用将改善工作场所的设计并降低加拿大建筑部门的成本。

Industrialized construction is a powerful strategy to solve several issues in traditional construction, specifically in the areas of cost, risk, and waste. In industrialized construction, rather than spending a significant amount of time onsite, workers work in a controlled factory environment. However, many aspects of the industrialized construction process still involve excessive physical exertion and are potentially injurious. Additionally, to achieve maximum profits, continuous improvements are required in operational production flow as well as workplace design and operational tasks. These changes and improvements may cause work-related ergonomic issues to be overlooked, which in addition to the physical exertion required, may contribute to work-related musculoskeletal disorders (WMSDs) or non-fatal injuries. Additionally, according to the Association of Workers' Compensation Boards of Canada, in 2016 $240 million worth of lost time claims were made, of which manufacturing and construction made up 24.32%. It is therefore crucial to carry out proactive ergonomic risk assessments to avoid potential WMSDs and injuries. Several avenues exist for improvement of the physical conditions of workspaces that can result in increased safety and productivity. Over the next five years, the proposed research program will develop a systematic ergonomic risk assessment and introduce changes to production processes, to improve productivity and safety in industrial construction. The long-term objective of the proposed research program is to proactively reduce the workplace injuries and claims and improve productivity by bringing ergonomic thinking into workplace design. The program has four short-term objectives: (1) investigate a systematic physical and psychological demand analysis to assess the demands of operational tasks on workers; (2) propose an intelligent, predetermined motion time system for the operational tasks of industrialized construction and to further assess productivity of the workplace; (3) develop a rapid ergonomic risk assessment system to identify, quantify and eliminate the ergonomic risks of operational tasks; and (4) develop comprehensive ergonomics and productivity assessment and management systems. The outcome of this research will contribute to the integration of ergonomic thinking in workplace design. The early application of the ergonomic and productivity assessments will improve workplace design and reduce costs for Canada's construction sector.