Preliminary findings from pilot medical examination scheme: For construction workers in Hong Kong

The Pilot Medical Examination Scheme for Construction Workers (PMES) is a commissioned research project aiming to analyse construction workers’ general health conditions in terms of gender, age, work trades, body mass index, blood pressure, blood cholesterol level, pain experience, dietary and exercise habits. Its scope is to provide basic health examinations to 10,000 construction workers in the territory and currently we have collected data from 529 workers in 26 construction sites. Some preliminary analysis results have been obtained based on the current sample. It is found that more than half (58.9%) of the workers are overweight. Relatively few workers (27.4%) have active pain symptoms and the most frequently reported pain spots are the lower back (36.5%), shoulders (17.2%) and knees (9.9%). Regarding dietary habits, on average, workers consume enough water and protein daily, but not sufficient fruit and vegetables as recommended by dieticians. A substantial number of male workers (41.0% of the whole sample) smoke, and the habit decreases with age. As to exercise, fewer than half (43.4%) of the workers regularly warm up before work. However, very few workers (15.1%) complete relaxation and stretching exercises after work. The current findings serve as the first step towards further analyses to understand the interfering effect of education, dietary and exercise habits on health outcomes of the workers. Copyright © 2015 Construction Industry Council.