Abstract:
Productivity is one of indexes which can indicate the efficiency of the construction process. In fact, there are many methods for improving construction productivity. Many previous researches showed that ergonomic principle could be applied to improve productivity, working conditions and working posture. This research aims to analyze working postures which have an effect on ergonomic environment, and explore the relationships between ergonomics and productivity. Moreover, this research attempts to find a recommendation for improving the working posture by applying ergonomic principles. In this research, the researcher selected a bricklaying task to be a case study. The Ovako working posture analysis system (OWAS) method was applied to assess ergonomic posters and calculate the ergonomic index risk (IR) of bricklaying task. The digital video was used as a tool to capture the work posters, while the productivity was recorded. These work postures recorded by digital video were systematically selected by snapshot program. Subsequently, the posture samplings were interpreted by using OWAS code and then the ergonomic index risk (IR) were calculated. The results of this research can be used for analyzing ergonomic environment and the work posture. In addition, the 3 main factors, namely ergonomic risk index, height of brick and productivity, were considered to analyze the relationships between them. The result of these relationships revealed that the IR decreased while the height of brick increased. The height of brick also affected the IR in 2 types, because of the work condition. This research shows that the method of work has more impact on the productivity than the ergonomic environment. Furthermore, this research provides the recommendation of posture improvement by using ergonomic principles.