An Interactive Simulation Approach for an Ergonomic-Driven Workplace Design in Off-Site Construction Facilities

Workers in off-site construction suffer frequent exposure to ergonomic risks that lead to work-related musculoskeletal disorders (WMSDs). It is therefore essential to perform ergonomic risk assessments to identify awkward postures and accordingly adjust workplace arrangements to ensure a safe work environment. Numerous studies have been conducted to assess risks. However, trial and error method are typically used to suggest modified settings without adequately investigating dynamic interactions between worker postures and design parameters. This paper presents a framework for a worker-friendly workplace design in off-site construction facilities that achieves lowest posture risk along with optimal workplace configurations to consequently enhance productivity. The proposed approach combines interactive worker-workplace simulation with definitive screening design method (DSD) as a new powerful tool of Six Sigma (SS) to examine correlations between design variables and postures to reach an optimal design. 3D modelling that imitates actual worker motions is developed, and inverse kinematics are then applied to predict how worker’s body reacts to workplace changes for each DSD run. As a case study, the suggested method is implemented to propose an ergonomically friendly workplace for the drywall marking task in an off-site construction plant. The results indicate that the proposed framework enables to identify effective design factors and optimal workplace settings, which yield a risk score for the upper body 0.5187 less than the initially proposed solution according to rapid upper limb assessment (RULA).