Ergonomic assessment of architectural activities among architects in two districts of Uttrakhand
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Date
2019-08
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G.B. Pant University of Agriculture and Technology, Pantnagar - 263145 (Uttarakhand)
Abstract
Architects, who works in the architectural studios, doing the different activities like site analysis, planning, designing, developing and inspect construction etc, in continuous sitting posture and spent most of the time on computer workstations therefore they are at high risk of musculoskeletal disorders. Architects majorly do the work on computers which is very much affecting their vision. Architects working in architectural studios withstand pressure and stress because of their long working hours. An occupational hazards includes headache, eye pain, lower back pain were majorly seen in the architects. Environmental conditions of the architectural studios are slightly below the average as it is mentioned that there were poor natural and artificial light, inadequate space, and noisy working area. A total 30 architects were selected from 2 districts of Uttrakhand for collection of descriptive and experimental data using interview schedule and experimental tables. It was found that architectural studios were not equipped with ergonomically designed workstation. Architects had to adjust themselves according to this workstation which led to musculoskeletal discomfort. Architects work for long duration of time in architectural studios in fixed positions, sometimes architects had to work overtime due to excessive load of work. It was also investigated from the study that their physical health status was deteriorating as they were working in poor sitting posture for long hour and hence used to face problems like lower back ache, neck pain and eye irritation, etc. It was also reported that there were inappropriate environmental parameters like lighting, temperature, sound etc. which caused physiological stress among architects, therefore hindering to their concentration on job and also lowering down the working capacity. The correlation coefficient values shows that visual acuity of architects was dependent on their age and had as significant relationship hence null hypothesis was rejected and alternate hypothesis was accepted. Similarly it was found that health prevalence of architects and job duration of architects had a significant relationship.