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PRELIMINARY FINDINGS FROM
PILOT MEDICAL

EXAMINATION

SCHEME

FOR CONSTRUCTION WORKERS

IN HONG KONG

The Pilot Medical Examination Scheme and the most frequently reported pain spots
for Construction Workers (PMES) is a are the lower back (36.5%), shoulders (17.2%)
commissioned research project aiming to and knees (9.9%). Regarding dietary habits,
analyse construction workers’ general health on average, workers consume enough water
conditions in terms of gender, age, work and protein daily, but not suffcient fruit and
trades, body mass index, blood pressure, vegetables as recommended by dieticians. A
blood cholesterol level, pain experience, substantial number of male workers (41.0%
dietary and exercise habits. Its scope is of the whole sample) smoke, and the habit
to provide basic health examinations to decreases with age. As to exercise, fewer
10,000 construction workers in the territory than half (43.4%) of the workers regularly
and currently we have collected data from warm up before work. However, very few
529 workers in 26 construction sites. Some workers (15.1%) complete relaxation and
preliminary analysis results have been stretching exercises after work. The current
obtained based on the current sample. It fndings serve as the frst step towards further
is found that more than half (58.9%) of the analyses to understand the interfering effect
workers are overweight. Relatively few of education, dietary and exercise habits on
workers (27.4%) have active pain symptoms health outcomes of the workers.

INTRODUCTION METHODOLOGY

The Pilot Medical Examination Scheme (PMES) is a research The research team is composed of medical staff and research
project commissioned by the Construction Industry Council personnel. The medical staff are responsible for measuring the
and undertaken by the Building and Real Estate Department workers’ blood pressure and taking their blood samples for
of the Hong Kong Polytechnic University. It aims to analyse the laboratory testing. The research personnel measure the weight
general health conditions of local construction workers in terms and height of the workers, and conduct face-to-face interviews
of gender, age, work trades, body mass index, blood pressure, with the workers regarding their demographic information, pain
blood cholesterol level, pain experience, dietary and exercise experience, dietary and exercise habits. The research team
habits. The scope of the project is to provide basic health visits each construction site during lunch breaks and the test
examinations to 10,000 construction workers in the territory. and interview takes about 15 minutes per worker.
As a report of an ongoing project, this paper presents the
preliminary fndings of the PMES project as of January 2015.

34 | AEDIFICE