Concrete Casting – Construction Engineers’ Attitudes and Knowledge About Work Environment, Risk Factors, Injuries and Self-compacting Concrete

The construction industry has one of the highest frequencies of sick leaves caused both by accidents and by work-related diseases. Casting is one example of a demanding task. After casting with regular concrete, the concrete mass needs to be manually vibrated to reduce the air and to fill the formwork properly. During this activity workers are exposed to forward bent postures, repeated heavy lifts, noise and hand-arm vibrations. Self-compacting concrete (SCC) is a fluid concrete and as such, does not need vibrations. In addition, one may expect economic benefits when using SCC. Despite the advantages of SCC its market share in Sweden is about 10%, and lower than in a neighboring country. There is yet no explanation for the low usage of SCC in Sweden. The aim of this study is to reach a deeper understanding of construction engineers’ attitudes and knowledge concerning work health and work environments during concrete casting, and about SCC and its usage. One-hour-interviews were conducted with 6 male construction engineers. The results indicated that respondents were familiar with risks for accidents, but much less familiar with risks for musculoskeletal disorders, and with risks from hand-arm vibrations. The study also revealed low level of knowledge about SCC and other new methods and materials that could improve and streamline processes at a construction site.