Assessment of perceived traumatic injury hazards during drywall taping and sanding

Effects of foot placement on postural stability of construction workers on stilts

“…1) are elevated tools that are frequently used by construction workers to raise workers 18-40 inches above the ground without the burden of erecting scaffolding or a ladder. Recent NIOSH studies (Pan et al, 1999(Pan et al, , 2000 further supported these hypotheses and indicated that workers perceived greater fall potential and physical stress when using stilts. A study from Duke University indicated that stilts were responsible for about 12% of falls among drywall workers in North Carolina homebuilders (Lipscomb and Dement, 2005).…”

“…This pattern indicated that workers using stilts may be able to detect their postural sway and instability conditions and may further be able to control their balance performance. This study did not measure fatigue-related musculoskeletal injury potential, which could be a critical issue when the static use of stilts was sustained over a prolonged work duration (Pan et al, 2000).…”

“…The increased lost workday severity and high paid claim figures indicate that those injuries tend to be extremely severe in terms of economic impacts (Whitaker, 2006). Potential injury-exposure hazards associated with stilts use in construction have been widely recognized (Pan et al, 1999(Pan et al, , 2000Schneider and Susi, 1994). Both nationally and internationally, the use of stilts was not recommended, and/or was prohibited outright in construction, in the State of California, in New York City, and in the Provinces of Ontario, Canada and Victoria, Australia.…”

“…It has been hypothesized that construction workers on stilts (e.g., drywall finishers and painters) tend to use extra efforts to maintain balance, which would result in accumulated muscle fatigue in the lower extremities, and would eventually produce postural instability while holding a prolonged standing position (Pan et al, 1999(Pan et al, , 2000Schneider and Susi, 1994). Other (1) Standing, with feet at half of the individual's shoulder width, and directly beneath the body; (2) standing, with feet placed at participants' shoulder width and directly beneath the body; (3) standing, with feet placed at 1½ times shoulder width and directly beneath the body; (4) standing, with feet at half of the individual's shoulder width, and with the left foot beneath the body and the right foot placed forward a distance of half the individual's foot length; (5) standing, with feet placed at participants' shoulder width, and with the left foot beneath the body and the right foot placed forward a distance of half the individual's foot length; and (6) standing, with feet placed at 1½ times the participants' shoulder width, with the left foot beneath the body and the right foot placed forward a distance of half the individual's foot length.…”

Analysis of Musculoskeletal Loadings in Lower Limbs During Stilts Walking in Occupational Activity

“…A survey of carpenters and drywall installers indicated that the workers using stilts perceived greater fall potential and physical stress than those using other elevated tools, such as scaffolds and ladders. 15,14 In a recent study of Washington State workers' compensation data for a period from 1996 to 2002, stiltsrelated injuries resulted in a median of 73 lost workdays compared to 24 lost workdays for all claims combined. 27 The state of California and the province of Ontario (Canada) have, therefore, established legislation against the use of stilts as a preventive measure for occupational safety.…”