Ergonomic factors and life cycles in work activities

Ergonomics - Work Activities

The excitement of moving into a newly bought house is often so overwhelming that little thought is given to possible difficulties with maintenance and repair issues. A newly-wed couple moved into a house that was badly in need of repair, having been built some decades ago. They obtained all the necessary permits and professionals to complete the job and prepared to live happily ever after in their new home some months after purchasing the property.

While repairs were made to all aspects of the house above ground, in terms of electrical wiring, cracks in the walls and floors, and the like, no attention was given to plumbing or the position of water pipes. The happy couple was therefore not aware that the underground plumbing system was also in need of considerable repair. Furthermore, they were not aware that the garage housing their car was built more recently than the rest of the house, and located over one of the water pipes running from the plumbing system of the house. It was therefore to their great surprise that, when trying to leave for work one morning, that the husband found his car in the middle of a pool of water gushing from a previously unnoticed crack in the garage floor. One of the water pipes underneath the garage had burst and was leaking through the floor.

The result was greatly inconvenient to the couple in terms of both finance and practical issues. The husband had to take a day off from work to call the plumber for an assessment of the damage. Because the floor of the garage was made of thick, hard concrete, repair to the pipes would take around two weeks. The floor had to be broken to reach the pipe in question. Because the water supply had to be switched off to make the repairs, the couple had to rent alternative premises to stay during the two weeks of the repair process. They were therefore not home on a continuous basis and suffered considerable stress as a result of worrying about safety issues. Because it was an urgent matter, they could only find a hotel room at considerable expense. To ensure the safety of their car, they had to pay additional money for parking.

The cost of the repair was also high, because a large part of the pipe was in bad repair and had to be replaced. The couple also had to pay the cost of repairing their garage floor. In addition, it was recommended that they move the pipe to a more accessible location to avoid the process repeating itself in the future. The cost was therefore high in terms not only of money, but also in terms of the stress suffered by the couple and the man hours required to make the repairs.

This is obviously a case of bad planning on the part of the previous home owner. Firstly, before the beginning of the garage building project, the owner should have ensured that no pipes or important wiring ran under the building site. The previous owner might also have informed the couple of potential problems in this regard before they bought the home.

In addition, the couple could have taken the responsibility of ensuring against problems of this nature as they made the repairs to the rest of the home. Plumbing is an important part of the home, and a professional should have been consulted in the preliminary months of owning the home. Taking these steps could have considerably mitigated the setback suffered by the couple when the pipe broke.