Wearable Sensing Devices: Towards the Development of a Personalized System for Construction Safety and Health Risk Mitigation

Abstract

Wearable sensing devices (WSDs) are increasingly helping workers stay safe and healthy in several industries. However, workers, especially in the construction industry, have shown some aversion towards the use of WSDs due to their ability to capture specific information that may be considered personal and private. However, this revered information may provide some critical insight needed by management to plan and optimize worksite safety and support technology adoption in decision making. Therefore, there is a need to develop personalized WSD systems that are mutually beneficial to workers and management to ensure successful WSD integration. The present study aims to contribute to knowledge and practice by filling this critical gap using insight from 330 construction workers with experience using WSDs. The results from this study indicate that all 11 WSD functions identified through this study play a vital role in improving worker safety and health and that approximately two out of three workers are open to sharing the physiological and environmental information captured using these WSDs with their management. However, functions for detecting workers’ proximity to workplace hazards, specifically energized electrical materials, toxic gas, and fire/smoke, were the most critical functions that had mutual value to workers and management. Finally, the present study proposed and evaluated a phased personalized WSD system that should encourage successful WSD integration.

The Use of Wearable Sensor Technology to Detect Shock Impacts in Sports and Occupational Settings: A Scoping Review

“…The use of wearable technology in sports is driven by the need to understand biomechanics to prevent injury and to provide immediate feedback to athletes and coaches, which is a common interest for both. Although the benefits of wearable sensors systems (e.g., shock impact assessment) have significant potential for health risk mitigation in the occupational health domain, their ability to capture specific information that may be considered personal and private by the worker may hinder its utilization [ 67 ]. Hence, the potential conflict of interest by employers and workers may possibly explain the lack of research in this area as well as the lack of papers on shock impacts in the occupational domain.…”

Advanced sensor technologies and the future of work

“…The perceived performance of a sensor to increase safety in the workplace is a strong predictor of worker acceptance 105 . Sensors that can detect workers’ proximity to workplace hazards like energized electrical hazards, toxic gases, and fire/smoke are viewed as critical safety functions having mutual value to both workers and management 106 …”

“…Workplace acceptance is also linked to concerns about the use of data collected by wearable sensors by the employer, but sometimes for unexpected reasons. In a recent survey, construction workers rated environmental sensor functions as having greater impact on worker safety and health than wearable sensors sampling physiological outputs but were more open to sharing physiological data than environmental data 106 . This was so because physiological sensors do not track a worker's location as environmental sensors do 106 …”

“…In another large study of construction workers, workers were found to accept utilizing the data collected from a wearable sensor if that data could identify a worker's personal health risks or promote a fellow worker's occupational safety 107 . Even though some construction worker surveys have shown that workers are not open to sharing data derived from sensors, 108 a more recent survey shows that a majority of workers surveyed—especially those who have more experience with wearable sensors—are willing to share output data with their employer 106 …”

An Internet of Things and Fuzzy Markup Language Based Approach to Prevent the Risk of Falling Object Accidents in the Execution Phase of Construction Projects

“…[9]. However, one of the aspects that has recently attracted most interest in the scientific community and that represents a great challenge is related to safety [10][11][12][13].…”