Elsevier

Automation in Construction

Volume 85, January 2018, Pages 96-106
Automation in Construction

Wearable technology for personalized construction safety monitoring and trending: Review of applicable devices

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.autcon.2017.10.010Get rights and content

Highlights

  • Technologies used in wearable devices for personalized safety monitoring in construction are reviewed.

  • A scientific evaluation of wearable systems and sensors for various construction safety and health applications is presented.

  • An assessment of the performance characteristics of wearable technologies is presented.

  • A model for integrating wearable sensors and systems for multi-parameter safety performance monitoring in construction is presented.

Abstract

The construction process is considered a very risky endeavor because of the high frequency of work-related injuries and fatalities. The collection and analysis of safety data is an important element in measurement and improvement strategy development. The adoption of wearable technology has the potential for a result-oriented data collection and analysis approach to providing real-time information to construction personnel. The objective of this paper is to provide a comprehensive review of the applications of wearable technology for personalized construction safety monitoring. The characteristics of wearable devices and safety metrics thought to be capable of predicting safety performance and management practices are identified and analyzed. The review indicates that the existing wearable technologies applied in other industrial sectors can be used to monitor and measure a wide variety of safety performance metrics within the construction industry. Benefits of individual wearable sensors or systems can be integrated based on their attributes for multi-parameter monitoring of safety performance.

Introduction

The high rate of fatalities in the construction industry remains a major concern of both practitioners and researchers. Out of 4386 total worker fatalities in private industry in 2014, 899 were in construction, indicating that over one in five worker deaths are construction related [1], [2]. Among industry sectors, workers in construction face the highest risk of occupational injuries and illnesses [3]. Despite the adoption of safety procedures and programs such as those developed and required by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), the rates of fatal and nonfatal construction injuries and illnesses have plateaued the past 10 years.

Given the high proportion of fatal and non-fatal accidents occurring in the construction industry, construction companies constantly seek novel strategies that promote safety [4]. Because of the transient and dynamic nature of construction, organizations must be able to quickly adapt to change by effectively capturing, storing, and disseminating new strategies that prevent injuries [5]. Thus, new technologies may be candidates for safety advancement. Although technology has undoubtedly played a major role in the improvement of construction processes, its application for personalized construction safety monitoring has not been fully explored [6].

In this paper, we review the various applications of wearable technology for personalized construction safety monitoring and trending. The specific objectives were to identify, catalog, and analyze attributes of wearable technology and resulting data thought to be capable of predicting construction safety performance and management practices.

Section snippets

Literature review

Due to the hazardous working environments at construction sites, workers frequently face potential safety and health risks throughout the entire construction process [7]. Construction safety has been traditionally measured and managed reactively by taking actions in response to adverse trends in injuries [8]. However, active monitoring of workers' physiological data with wearable technology may allow for measurement of heart rate, breathing rate and posture [6]. This section contains the review

Methods

This research was conducted by first reviewing the present state of knowledge of wearable technologies across industries, codifying literature and specifications related to each candidate technology systems and sensors, and describing the human factors implications of the technologies in accordance with prevailing theory. The construction safety and health hazards were reviewed to identify the metrics that can be captured and processed by the wearable technologies to measure and monitor safety

Results and discussion

The results of this review study are presented and discussed in different sections based on the research methodology framework. Critical findings of each review, including the wearable technology systems and sensors thought to be the most promising for applications in construction safety monitoring and trending, are presented.

Conclusion

This paper provides a review of the applications of wearable technology for personalized construction safety monitoring and trending. A comprehensive evaluation of the features of wearable technology and the resulting safety metrics thought to be capable of predicting safety performance and management practices is presented. The review showed that a wide variety of wearable technologies is being used in other industries to enhance safety and productivity while few applications are observed in

References (95)

  • J. Wang et al.

    Low false alarm rate model for unsafe-proximity detection in construction

    J. Comput. Civ. Eng.

    (2016)
  • M.A. McDonald et al.

    “Safety is everyone's job:” the key to safety on a large university construction site

    J. Saf. Res.

    (2009)
  • G.K. Lewis et al.

    Design and evaluation of a wearable self-applied therapeutic ultrasound device for chronic myofascial pain

    Ultrasound Med. Biol.

    (2013)
  • D. Briand et al.

    Making environmental sensors on plastic foil

    Mater. Today

    (2011)
  • S. Chae et al.

    Automation in construction application of RFID technology to prevention of collision accident with heavy equipment

    Autom. Constr.

    (2010)
  • J. Teizer et al.

    Autonomous pro-active real-time construction worker and equipment operator proximity safety alert system

    Autom. Constr.

    (2010)
  • T. Ruff

    Evaluation of a radar-based proximity warning system for off-highway dump trucks

    Accid. Anal. Prev.

    (2006)
  • A.A. Oloufa et al.

    Situational awareness of construction equipment using GPS, wireless and web technologies

    Autom. Constr.

    (2003)
  • S.Y.L. Yin et al.

    Developing a precast production management system using RFID technology

    Autom. Constr.

    (2009)
  • C.M. Roberts

    Radio frequency identification (RFID)

    Comput. Secur.

    (2006)
  • P.M. Goodrum et al.

    The application of active radio frequency identification technology for tool tracking on construction job sites

    Autom. Constr.

    (2006)
  • W. Lu et al.

    Scenarios for applying RFID technology in construction project management

    Autom. Constr.

    (2011)
  • K.S. Saidi et al.

    Static and dynamic performance evaluation of a commercially-available ultra wideband tracking system

    Autom. Constr.

    (2011)
  • T. Cheng et al.

    Performance evaluation of ultra wideband technology for construction resource location tracking in harsh environments

    Autom. Constr.

    (2011)
  • A. Shahi et al.

    Deterioration of UWB positioning during construction

    Autom. Constr.

    (2012)
  • J. Li et al.

    A shell-based magnetic field model for magnetic proximity detection systems

    Saf. Sci.

    (2012)
  • A. Papapostolou et al.

    RFID-assisted indoor localization and the impact of interference on its performance

    J. Netw. Comput. Appl.

    (2011)
  • H.M. Khoury et al.

    Evaluation of position tracking technologies for user localization in indoor construction environments

    Autom. Constr.

    (2009)
  • Y.K. Cho et al.

    Error modeling for an untethered ultra-wideband system for construction indoor asset tracking

    Autom. Constr.

    (2010)
  • J. Yang et al.

    A performance evaluation of vision and radio frequency tracking methods for interacting workforce

    Adv. Eng. Inform.

    (2011)
  • X. Zhu et al.

    A review of RFID technology and its managerial applications in different industries

    J. Eng. Technol. Manag.

    (2012)
  • G. Anastasi et al.

    Energy conservation in wireless sensor networks: a survey

    Ad Hoc Netw.

    (2009)
  • P. Li et al.

    A magnetoelectric energy harvester and management circuit for wireless sensor network

    Sensors Actuators A Phys.

    (2010)
  • R. Tesoriero et al.

    Improving location awareness in indoor spaces using RFID technology

    Expert Syst. Appl.

    (2010)
  • Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS)

    2014 Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries (revised data) – Industry by Event or Exposure, 2014

    (2016)
  • Occupational Safety & Health Administration (OSHA)

    Commonly Used Statistics

    (2016)
  • Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA)

    Worker Safety Series: Construction

    (2017)
  • M.R. Hallowell

    Safety-knowledge management in american construction organizations

    Am. Soc. Civil Eng.

    (2012)
  • T. Cheng et al.

    Data fusion of real-time location sensing and physiological status monitoring for ergonomics analysis of construction workers

    J. Comput. Civ. Eng.

    (2012)
  • M.R. Hallowell et al.

    Proactive construction safety control: measuring, monitoring, and responding to safety leading indicators

    J. Constr. Eng. Manag.

    (2013)
  • J. Hinze

    A paradigm shift: leading to safety

  • J. Park et al.

    A framework of automated construction safety monitoring using cloud-enabled BIM and BLE mobile tracking sensors

    J. Constr. Eng. Manag.

    (2016)
  • S. Ananthanarayan et al.

    Health sense: a Gedanken experiment on persuasive wearable Technology for Health Awareness

  • P. Bonato

    Advances in wearable technology for rehabilitation

    Stud. Health Technol. Inform.

    (2009)
  • P. Bonato

    Advances in wearable technology and its medical applications

  • D. Anzaldo

    Wearable sports technology - market landscape and compute SoC trends

  • Beecham Research

    Wearable Technology Application Chart

    (2016)
  • Cited by (290)

    View all citing articles on Scopus
    View full text