Interventions in the construction industry: A systematic review and critical appraisal

Musculoskeletal disorders (MSD) in the construction industry represent a significant problem resulting in days away from work, and the effective solution to this problem requires the implementation of useful interventions. This article presents a systematic review and critical appraisal of construction intervention studies to provide a basis for future research and practice. A comprehensive search of seven electronic databases - Medline, PubMed, Ergonomics Abstracts, Health and Safety Science Abstracts, BIOSIS, Psychinfo, and NIOSHTIC 2 - was performed to identify relevant articles. Further, the methodological quality of identified studies was assessed by the Epidemiological Appraisal Instrument (EAI). Eight intervention studies linking and introducing the following aspects of the construction industry were identified: an intervention with reduced MSD; decreasing work demands; or increasing human abilities, comfort, or ease of use among workers. The methodological quality of the studies ranged between marginal and average. There is an urgent need for more construction intervention studies to fill the gaps in this research area. Moreover, future research and practice should avoid the limitations of past studies in order to ultimately reach the goal of effective interventions in the construction industry.