ABSTRACT
One way of dealing with the safety issues on site is to provide innovative technological solutions to problems. However, it must be borne in mind that new technologies often bring with them new risks and workers must be thoroughly trained and appraised of new risks before new work processes are implemented. However, many innovations have been made in the ergonomics field and these lead to a reduction in injuries to backs and other parts of the anatomy. This issue is addressed in Davis, Lorenc and Bernold (1999), to the conference in Hawaii:
Occupational back injuries are on the rise and seem to be universal Due to its large impact on the life of people and the related cost, it should be prevented at all costs. This paper presented one approach, technological interventions, namely a simple and advanced engineering solution to the operation of nailguns in building construction. After an extensive period of site observation and analysis, the process of nailing sub-floors was identified as a high-risk operation. Based on the nature of the work, the Ergonomic nailing System (ENS) was designed, prototyped, and tested in the field. The first comparative tests showed that the proposed simple system works well in the field of manufactured housing, is immediately embraced by workers that suffer from constant bending during nailing, and does not result in loss of productivity. Laboratory tests also showed the drastic change of this innovative system on the sagittal position of the human, who is not required to bend anymore (Davis, Lorenc and Bernold, 1999).
