Abstract—Nowadays the construction industry is growing specially among developing counties. Iran also has a critical role in these industries in terms of workers disorders. Work-related musculoskeletal disorders (WMSDs) assign 7% of the whole diseases in the society, which make some limitations. One of the main factors, which are ended to WMSDs, is awkward posture. Steel bar bending is considered as one of the prominent performance among construction workers. In this case study we conducted to find the major tasks of bar benders and the most important related risk factors. This study was carried out among twenty workers (18-45 years) as our volunteer samples in some construction sites with less than 6 floors in two regions of Tehran municipality. The data was gathered through in depth observation, interview and questionnaire. Also postural analysis was done by OWAS. In another part of study we used NMQ for gathering some data about psychosocial effects of work related disorders. Our findings show that 64% of workers were not aware of work risks, also about 59% of workers had troubles in their wrists, hands, and especially among workers who worked in steel bar bending. In 46% cases low back pain were prevalence. Considering with gathered data and results, awkward postures and long term tasks and its duration are known as the main risk factors in WMSDs among construction workers, so work-rest schedule and also tools design should be considered to make an ergonomic condition for the mentioned workers. Keywords—Bar benders, construction workers, musculoskeletal disorders (WMSDs), OWAS method. I. INTRODUCTION MSDs contain occupational musculoskeletal injuries and illnesses and repetitive strain/stress injuries. These are multifactorial problems, include many physical, psychological, psychosocial, and organizational risk factors and not limited to the terms "injury" or "illness" [1], [2]. All of these terms refer to same basic family of disorders affecting the tissues of the musculoskeletal system tendons, muscles, ligaments, bones, nerves, and vascular structures. WMSDs are Sana Behnam Asl is M.A Student in Industrial Design, Fine Art Dept., University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran (phone: +98-9125706691; e-mail: s.behnam_ind@ut.ac.ir). Hassan Sadeghi Naeini is Assistant prof. in Industrial Design Dept., School of Architecture, Iran University of Science and Technology (IUSD), Tehran, Iran (phone: +98-912773371; e-mail: naeini@iust.ac.ir). Leila Sadat Ensaniat is M.A Student in Industrial Design, University of Art, Tehran, Iran (phone: +98-9194017281; e-mail: l_ensaniat@yahoo.com). Raika khorshidian is PHD Student in Art Studies, University of Tarbiat Modares, Tehran, Iran (phone: +98-9124977880; e-mail: raika.khorshidian@modares.ac.ir). Shima Alipour is M.A student in Industrial Design, Fine Art Dept., University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran (phone: +98-9124720316; e-mail: alipour.shima@ut.ac.ir). Sahar Behnam Asl is M.D. student in Semnan University of Medical Sciences and Health services, Semnan, Iran (phone: +98-9352223547; e-mail: sahar.b.a60@gmail.com). generally limited to the upper extremity and low back [2]. There has been a growing effort in recent years to explore the causes of MSDs, because musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) is still a main cause of disability and lost work time [3] and WMSDs embrace over half of all reported occupational illnesses [4]; also it is an important cause of functional impairments and disability among construction workers [5]. In spite of huge growing construction industry among developing countries like Iran, and high rate of WMSDs among construction workers, there is no noticeable ergonomics study among bar benders who are in high risk. II. BACKGROUND Buildings construction is in the top ten high risk major industries for the MSDs of various parts of body [6]. Different investigations concerning WMSDs for construction workers have been conducted in European countries [7]-[9]. In observation on Taiwanese construction workers [10], wire- tying of iron rods one of the bar-bending task was known one of the most stressful tasks among all kinds of construction tasks. Generally, most musculoskeletal symptoms in workers are in the low back (44%), shoulders (33.3%) and neck (32.0%) [11]. An investigation [12] of Swedish workers indicated that iron reinforcement workers bent over up to 58% of their work time while working on floor slabs. Also, according to the survey among dam construction workers of Iran that belong to 2009, the most prevalent (55.5%) MSDs were in the low back region. There were statistically significant positive associations between prevalence of MSDs and many independent variables, namely, age, weight, education level, service record, smoking, type of job, lengths of time of standing and sitting at work, total work duration, work pressure, undesirable postures and surface for walking [13], also the effect of physical activities in reducing musculoskeletal morbidity has confirmed in the other research [14]. Years worked were strongly significantly associated with MSDs and pain in the neck, shoulders and wrists/hands [11]. Moreover, effects of body mass index, hearing disorders, and sleep disorders were verified. Hazards related to repetitive movements and discomfort postures could be reduced by informing the workers about these risks and encourage them to practice sporting activities like stretching exercises and reduce their hearing and sleep disorders [15], ergonomic interventional, frequent rests [16], rotation schedules [17], modification in manual material handling, workers education [16], and new engineering S. Behnam Asl, H. Sadeghi Naeini, L. Sadat Ensaniat, R. Khorshidian, S. Alipour, S. Behnam Asl Injury Prevention among Construction Workers: A Case Study on Iranian Steel Bar Bending Workers W World Academy of Science, Engineering and Technology International Journal of Medical, Health, Biomedical, Bioengineering and Pharmaceutical Engineering Vol:8, No:8, 2014 458 International Scholarly and Scientific Research & Innovation 8(8) 2014 scholar.waset.org/1999.9/9998902 International Science Index Vol:8, No:8, 2014 waset.org/Publication/9998902