Concern about the quality of life is to a great extent learned and rational. It arises from what humans learn about life, death, incapacitation, suffering, health, and success and from the realization that they need to know more about the quality of life to make decisions. And although during the decision-making process they may be prompted by instinctive impulses, in the main, quality of life decisions are arrived at through deliberating alternatives, predicting the consequences of following. Happiness, life satisfaction and subjective well-being are mutually interrelated – and indeed they are all closely connected with the notion of quality of life – but they are also highly contested constructs.

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The Concepts of Quality of Life and Happiness - Correlation and Differences

The paper discusses the problem of selecting construction process safety solutions which secure employee health and safety on construction sites. To achieve this, the causes of severe accidents on construction sites have been analyzed, factors which cause accidents at work in construction companies have been studied; a comprehensive literature review has been made, assesing all statistical data and employee health and safety improvement perspectives as well as their application in construction practice. The selection problem is stated as a mathematical multi-purpose solution making task. It expresses the management solution making problem mathematically.Investigation of severe accidents on construction sites shows that over two thirds of accidents are caused by poor work organization, lack of supervision and control as well as underestimation of professional risks. This high level of injuries is brought about not only by noncompliance with employees’ health and safety requirements, but also by factors and violations having to do with traffic, noncompliance with fire and electricity safety requirements, lack of work discipline, which is mainly displayed by usage of alcohol at work, as well as other causes. Other important factors that directly impact the number of accidents in the construction sector are the lack of training and knowledge as well as the lack of awareness of safe execution of assigned work.Studies of the dependencies between workplace accidents and their causes show that the prevailing accidents are the following: high falls, collisions with vehicles, stumbling and falling as well as falling objects. They usually result in severe and lethal outcomes.The paper emphasizes that work safety in various building construction activities can be achieved not only by collective and individual means, evaluation of professional risk, employee briefing on safety measures, but also by efficient work organization and appropriate working environment. To implement the above mentioned, the most effective solution must be found. One of the methods used to determine the priorities of safe operation in a construction company is the TOPSIS (Technique for Order Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution) method.The effectiveness level of safety solutions for a construction process depends on numerous quantitative and qualitative indices affecting the process; their impact is evaluated in terms of their value and significance. Since the significance of quantitative and qualitative indices depends on their values, the latter should be taken into consideration. Furthermore, it is necessary to coordinate the significances of quantitative and qualitative indices in terms of their value and significance. To achieve the above-mentioned goals, the authors developed an integrated index significance determination method, in view of their quantitative and qualitative characteristics.The paper discusses the selection of objects and indicators that are under consideration. An anonymous survey was carried out with the help of questionnaires designed for the purpose. Six average-size construction companies engaged in constructing individual dwelling-houses participated in the survey. A single-storey house with an attic and no basement was selected as a study object.

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Evaluation of Construction Process Safety Solutions Using the TOPSIS Method

Development of a Model for the Prevention of Work-Related Musculoskeletal Disorders in the Upper Extremities. Tööga seotud käte ja õlavöötme ülekoormushaiguste ennetusmudeli väljatöötamine

The paper provides a new synthesis method of multiple attribute decisions (SyMAD-3 – Synthesis of Multiple Attribute Decisions using three methods) intended for combining multi-stage and multiple attribute decisions into a single common estimate. The method is applied for selecting a construction project on the basis of its structural, technological and safety decisions. To increase the reliability of the decision, three multiple attribute decision-making methods based on quantitative measurements were applied to help the person making a decision to monitor the results of a relevant decision obtained employing three methods of the same class. The algorithm of the proposed method includes methods for identifying the integrated significances of attributes and multiple attribute decision-making methods (SAW – Simple Additive Weighting, TOPSIS – Technique for Order Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution, and COPRAS – COmplex PRoportional ASsessment) based on quantitative measurements.

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A New Synthesis Method Of Structural, Technological And Safety Decisions (SyMAD-3)

There is a growing need for businesses to pay attention to human well-being, providing people with the conditions necessary for meeting organizational goals, which depend on logistical, production, and supply chain processes functioning as a whole. In that light, the present work seeks to construct a mapping of existing academic publications regarding ergonomics within the field of logistics, and assemble a bibliographic portfolio of the most relevant and applicable works, in the opinion of the researchers. Towards this end, a bibliometric analysis was carried out with the goal of gaining insight as to the most-recurring topics: authors, articles, periodicals and keywords in this field. This work is characterized as exploratory-descriptive research; besides this, it employs mixed qualitative and quantitative data analysis by way of the Knowledge Development Process--Constructivist intervention instrument (ProKnow-C). Resulting from this, 15 relevant and 512 reference articles were selected, which went on to form the bibliographic portfolio. Upon completion of bibliometric analysis of the articles and references composing the bibliographic portfolio, the following evidences was concluded: the academic journals International Journal of Industrial Ergonomics, Ergonomics and Applied Ergonomics; the articles titled "Precision of measurements of physical workload during standardised manual handling. Part I: Surface electromyography of m. trapezius, m. infraspinatus and the forearm extensors" and "Ergonomic evaluation of complex work: A participative approach employing video---computer interaction, exemplified in a study of order picking"; the keywords "Human Factors", "Supply Chain", "Material Handling", "Logistics" and "Ergonomics"; and the most-cited authors being the following: Neumann, W. P.; Marras, W. S.; Winkel, J.; Hansson, G. A.; Skerfving S.; Mathiassen, S. E., and Medbo, L. T. Once the results are unique, they are appropriate only for the particular case, so it cannot be recommended for other contexts. The ProKnow-C process, however, is general and can be used in any context.

Mapping the state of the art of ergonomics within logistics

New physical overload factors (as working in the compulsory position or monotonously, where the strain of muscles is one-sided) have appeared for workers with the growth of information technology and logistics. The monotonous work is also a psychological hazardous factor, so the influence of work methods on workers’ health might be multilateral. The work-world is changing, however the physical overload from lifting weights and manual material handling may not disappear in the near future, as the long supply chain necessary for globalized production means that goods are often produced in one country and consumed in another. A calculation method (MODEL) for the assessment of the ergonomics of manual handling of loads is presented in the study. The results of the use of the method are given in manufacturing, for comparison in oldsters’ care hospital, where the physical overload is rather high. Innovations have been introduced in the last years. Musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) connected with monotonous work are medically examined for garment workers. In parallel, the questionnaire for assessment of mental strain of workers was used. There is no mental strain observed in garment workers, but it is rather high for medical personnel. The results show the possibilities to improve the work environment and workers’ health through ergonomic analysis of workplace, good workplace design, education of special trained occupational hygienists and through them the education of blue-collar workers, the use of robot manipulators and roller conveyors, the increase of management interest and acceptance of ergonomics, the build-up of a bridge between planning and production departments.

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Innovations at Workplace: Improvement of Ergonomics

The aim of the paper is to present balneotherapy (mud treatment) effect in the rehabilitation and prevention of work-related musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) of industrial workers. Balneotherapy significantly reduces the muscle pain complaints of the employees. The m.abductor pollicis brevis muscle tension measured decreased after the balneotherapy. The study included overall 114 industrial workers (91 female and 23 male persons from garment and woodworking industries) with professional overuse of the upper extremities. The average age of the workers was 49.1 (from 22 to 75) years, their average length of the service was 16.2 years. The main result of the questioning of the workers about the pain regions: there was quite a high incidence of musculoskeletal pain in the investigated workers with a work-related upper extremity syndrome: neck 68.4%, shoulders 63.2%, elbows 42.1% and wrists 78.9%. In the course of the study, balneotherapy was applied to 19 (13 female and 6 male) industrial workers who had pain at least in two regions of the body. The average age of these workers was 50.6 years and the average length of the service 21.3. After the ba lneotherapy, the 19 industrial workers' complaints of pain in the neck and in the wrists decreased from 2.37 to 1.13 points (p = 0.05) and from 3.25 to 1.03 points (p = 0.007) respectively on the VAS pain scale . Objective measurement of muscle fatigue with a myotonometer showed the decrease in the stiffness of hand muscles (Abd poll brev, right: from 278 nM -1 until 342 nM -1 , p = 0.006). The results indicated that more attention should be paid to the early diagnostics and preventive measures.

https://agronomy.emu.ee/vol133/13_3_20_B5.pdf

Work-related musculoskeletal symptoms in industrial workers and the effect of balneotherapy

Introduction and objectives. The work related musculo-skeletal disorders (MSD) affecting the upper body and limbs are now recognized as one of the leading causes of pain and disability in the occupational health. The impairment of circulation could be one of the explanations for the work related musculoskeletal overuse syndromes. There is a long tradition of using of spa treatment in case of musculosceletal problems. The goal of this study is to detect the effect of outpatient mud and spa therapies on the perfusion in the upper limbs in case of the professional overuse. Methods. Two factories where the previous work place risk analyses showed the upper extremities overuse for the workers were chosen into the study by the occupational medicine unit. The Standardised Nordic questionnaires for the musculoskeletal symptoms were used by the occupational medicine doctor to measure the individual level of MS pain of the upper extremities. The perfusion measurements on the forearms with laser Doppler before and in the end of spa treatments were done by the Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation doctor. Results We found the significant changes in the perfusion, rest flow and peak flow measured by the laser Doppler after the 9 spa therapy sessions in the medium pain group. Conclusions. in the case of upper extremities overuse syndrom with medium pain spa treatment restored microcirculation in the upper extremities exposed to the regular professional overuse. Spa treatment could be the method for the healh promotion in this subgroup.

S. Saarik

Papers

Innovations at Workplace: Improvement of Ergonomics

Work-related musculoskeletal symptoms in industrial workers and the effect of balneotherapy

The effect of outpatient mud and spa-therapies on the tissue perfusion measured with laser Doppler in work related upper extremities overuse syndromes