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战略，特别是在成本、风险和浪费方面。在工业化建筑中，工人们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，工业化建设过程的许多方面仍然涉及过度的体力消耗，并具有潜在的伤害性。此外，为了实现最大利润，需要在运营生产流程以及工作场所设计和运营任务方面不断改进。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，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(WMSD)或非致命伤害。此外，根据加拿大工人赔偿委员会协会的数据，2016年提出的损失工时索赔金额为2.4亿美元，其中制造业和建筑业占24.32%。因此，进行积极的人体工学风险评估，以避免潜在的大规模毁灭性武器和伤害是至关重要的。有几种方法可以改善工作场所的物理条件，从而提高安全性和生产率。在未来五年内，拟议的研究计划将开发系统的人体工学风险评估，并对生产过程进行更改，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维引入工作场所设计，积极减少工作场所伤害和索赔，并提高生产率。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，以评估运营任务对工人的需求；(2)为工业化建筑的运营任务提出智能的预定运动时间系统，并进一步评估工作场所的生产率；(3)开发快速人体工学风险评估系统，以识别、量化和消除运营任务的人体工学风险；以及(4)开发全面的人体工学和生产率评估和管理系统。本研究成果将有助于工效学思维在工作场所设计中的整合。人体工程学和生产率评估的早期应用将改善工作场所设计，并降低加拿大建筑业的成本。

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.