Up to 14 billion dollars are spent in the construction industry annually as a result of work-related injuries. The current study was developed in an effort to minimize the costs associated with these short-and long-term injuries through the use of wearable technologies and a two-phase study that included 13 semi-structured interviews and a usability investigation with 12 participants. Through the user interviews, a system was developed that includes a wearable vibration feedback mechanism that alerts users of postures that impose a risk of incurring musculoskeletal disorders and a smartphone application that reports on their postures. The results of the usability investigation showed that the solution is perceived to be more informative and engaging in enhancing safety awareness than existing practices. The results of this study display the need and effectiveness of incorporating wearable technologies as a means of providing effective feedback to construction workers and, hence, mitigate the risks of incurring work-related injuries.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
Al AmeenM.LiuJ.KwakK. (2012). Security and privacy issues in wireless sensor networks for healthcare applications. Journal of Medical Systems, 36(1), 93-101.
2.
BehmM. (2005). Linking construction fatalities to the design for construction safety concept. Safety Science, 43(8), 589-611.
3.
BernsenN. O.DybkjærH.DybkjærL. (1994). Wizard of oz prototyping: How and when. Proc. CCI Working Papers Cognit. Sci./HCI, Roskilde, Denmark.
4.
BrookeJ. (1996). SUS: A “quick and dirty” usabiltiy scale. London: Taylor and Francis.
5.
CheungS. O.CheungK. K.SuenH. C. (2004). CSHM: Web-based safety and health monitoring system for construction management. Journal of Safety Research, 35(2), 159-170.
6.
CheungZ.FelettoM.GalanteJ.WatersT.Control C. f. D., & Prevention. (2007). Ergonomic guidelines for manual material handling. In NIOSH Publication: NIOSH.
7.
ChoeE. K.LeeN. B.LeeB.PrattW.KientzJ. A. (2014). Understanding quantified-selfers’ practices in collecting and exploring personal data. Paper presented at the Proceedings of the 32nd annual ACM conference on Human factors in computing systems.
8.
DeterdingS. (2012). Gamification: designing for motivation. Interactions, 19(4), 14-17.
9.
GambateseJ. A.BehmM.RajendranS. (2008). Design’s role in construction accident causality and prevention: Perspectives from an expert panel. Safety Science, 46(4), 675-691.
10.
GaverW. W.SmithR. B.O’SheaT. (1991). Effective sounds in complex systems: The ARKola simulation. Paper presented at the Proceedings of the SIGCHI Conference on Human factors in Computing Systems.
11.
HelanderM. G. (1991). Safety hazards and motivation for safe work in the construction industry. International Journal of Industrial Ergonomics, 8(3), 205-223.
12.
HsiehH.-F.ShannonS. E. (2005). Three approaches to qualitative content analysis. Qualitative Health Research, 15(9), 1277-1288.
13.
JaffarN.Abdul-TharimA.Mohd-KamarI.LopN. (2011). A literature review of ergonomics risk factors in construction industry. Procedia Engineering, 20, 89-97.
14.
JeongB. Y. (1998). Occupational deaths and injuries in the construction industry. Applied Ergonomics, 29(5), 355-360.
15.
LandisJ. R.KochG. G. (1977). The measurement of observer agreement for categorical data. Biometrics, 159-174.
16.
MattilaM.HyttinenM.RantanenE. (1994). Effective supervisory behaviour and safety at the building site. International Journal of Industrial Ergonomics, 13(2), 85-93.
17.
McAtamneyL.CorlettE. N. (1993). RULA: a survey method for the investigation of work-related upper limb disorders. Applied Ergonomics, 24(2), 91-99.
18.
MottiV. G.CaineK. (2014). Human factors considerations in the design of wearable devices. Paper presented at the Proceedings of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society Annual Meeting.
19.
PatelM. S.AschD. A.VolppK. G. (2015). Wearable devices as facilitators, not drivers, of health behavior change. JAMA, 313(5), 459-460.
20.
ReeseC. D.EidsonJ. V. (2006). Handbook of OSHA Construction Safety and Health: CRC Press.
21.
RochlisJ. L.NewmanD. J. (2000). A tactile display for international space station (ISS) extravehicular activity (EVA). Aviation, Space, and Environmental Medicine, 71(6), 571-578.
22.
SandersM. S.McCormickE. J. (1998). Human Factors in Engineering and Design: McGraw-Hill New York.
23.
Van ErpJ. B. (2002). Guidelines for the use of vibro-tactile displays in human computer interaction. Paper presented at the Proceedings of Eurohaptics.
24.
VarshneyU. (2007). Pervasive healthcare and wireless health monitoring. Mobile Networks and Applications, 12(2-3), 113-127.
25.
VignaisN.MiezalM.BleserG.MuraK.GoreckyD.MarinF. (2013). Innovative system for real-time ergonomic feedback in industrial manufacturing. Applied Ergonomics, 44(4), 566-574.
26.
WalkerM.TakayamaL.LandayJ. A. (2002). High-fidelity or low-fidelity, paper or computer? Choosing attributes when testing web prototypes. Paper presented at the Proceedings of the human factors and ergonomics society annual meeting.
27.
WangD.DaiF.NingX. (2015). Risk assessment of work-related musculoskeletal disorders in construction: State-of-the-art review. Journal of Construction Engineering and Management, 141(6), 04015008.
YanX.LiH.LiA. R.ZhangH. (2017). Wearable IMU-based real-time motion warning system for construction workers’ musculoskeletal disorders prevention. Automation in Construction, 74, 2-11.
30.
YangH.YuJ.ZoH.ChoiM. (2016). User acceptance of wearable devices: An extended perspective of perceived value. Telematics and Informatics, 33(2), 256-269.
31.
ZuckermanO.Gal-OzA. (2014). Deconstructing gamification: evaluating the effectiveness of continuous measurement, virtual rewards, and social comparison for promoting physical activity. Personal and Ubiquitous Computing, 18(7), 1705-1719.
