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Wearable Technology for Occupational Risk Assessment and Prevention

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A special issue of Sensors (ISSN 1424-8220). This special issue belongs to the section "Wearables".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (20 April 2022) | Viewed by 10022

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Special Issue Editors

Dr. Ignacio Pavón García

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Guest Editor

Instrumentation and Applied Acoustics Research Group (I2A2), ETSI Industriales, Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, Campus Sur UPM, Ctra. Valencia, Km 7, 28031 Madrid, Spain
Interests: wearable technology; occupational risk prevention
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Dr. Juan Manuel López

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Guest Editor

Grupo de Investigación en Instrumentación y Acústica Aplicada, Departamento de Telemática y Electrónica, Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, 28040 Madrid, Spain
Interests: wearable technology; Internet of Things; occupational risk prevention
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Dr. Nélson Costa

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Guest Editor

ALGORITMI Research Center, School of Engineering, University of Minho, 4800-058 Guimarães, Portugal
Interests: human factors and ergonomics; occupational safety; hygiene; safety engineering
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Wearable technologies are increasingly popular consumer electronics for a variety of applications, at home and at work. Nowadays, the reduction of work-related injuries and illnesses is an open challenge. Thanks to recent technological advances, wearable technologies have opened up new exciting opportunities for occupational risk assessment and prevention. Wearable devices enable the continuous monitoring of posture, movement, noise, light, temperature, chemical concentrations, vital signs, etc., which can be used as diagnostic tools to prevent occupational risks and hazards.

The early prevention of situations of occupational risk before they occur helps to reduce the impact of accidents in our lives. Currently, the technology opens a wide range of solutions; devices like smartphones, tablets, or wearables (e.g., smartwatches, smart wristbands) are used to manage specific occupational health problems. The combination of the Internet of Things (IoT), big data (collection and analysis of large amounts of data), and smart working environments (SWE) provide an opportunity for monitoring activities conducted by the worker, machinery, and tools, in order to provide safer occupational environments.

These technologies, however, also come with their own challenges, such as their reliability, validity and feasibility within occupational risk assessment contexts, and the challenging interpretability of the data to effectively inform prevention practice.

Additionally, the resulting synergies should also be considered in managing occupational risk prevention, such as prevention enhancement, accident and illness reduction, productivity improvement, costs reduction, availability, and sharing of information, decision-making in quasi-real-time, as well as integration with the concepts of digitization of industry (Industry 4.0).

This Special Issue aims to highlight the most recent research regarding wearables for occupational risk assessment and prevention, sensor-based technics for accident and illness reduction, and more generally, sensor-based methods and technics to obtain safer occupational environments.

Contributions that address, but are not restricted to, the following topics are welcome:

Wearable sensors;
Reliability and validity of sensor-based measurements;
Sensor-based feedback on motor performance, motion and activity detection;
Recognition of work-related musculoskeletal disorders by sensors and/or wearable devices;
Fall detection systems;
Innovative applications for monitoring occupational safety and health risk factors;
Smart clothing/textiles technologies for monitoring occupational safety and health risk factors;
Smart-phone innovative applications for monitoring occupational safety and health risk factors;
WearableTechnology for physical, chemical and / or biological exposure monitoring;
Body sensors networks.

Dr. Ignacio Pavón García
Dr. Juan Manuel López
Dr. Nélson Costa
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Sensors is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

Occupational risk prevention (ORP)
Wearables or wearable technology
Internet of Things (IoT)
Big data
Smart work environments (SWE)
Industry 4.0
Digitalization of occupational safety and health (OH+S)
Safety II (new trend that focus on why things go right)

Published Papers (3 papers)

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Research

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17 pages, 3474 KiB

Open AccessArticle

A RULA-Based Comparison of the Ergonomic Risk of Typical Working Procedures for Dentists and Dental Assistants of General Dentistry, Endodontology, Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, and Orthodontics

by Fabian Holzgreve, Laura Fraeulin, Werner Betz, Christina Erbe, Eileen M. Wanke, Dörthe Brüggmann, Albert Nienhaus, David A. Groneberg, Christian Maurer-Grubinger and Daniela Ohlendorf

Sensors 2022, 22(3), 805; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/s22030805 - 21 Jan 2022

Cited by 14 | Viewed by 2939

Abstract

Background: In general, the prevalence of work-related musculoskeletal disorders (WMSD) in dentistry is high, and dental assistants (DA) are even more affected than dentists (D). Furthermore, differentiations between the fields of dental specialization (e.g., general dentistry, endodontology, oral and maxillofacial surgery, or orthodontics) are rare. Therefore, this study aims to investigate the ergonomic risk of the aforementioned four fields of dental specialization for D and DA on the one hand, and to compare the ergonomic risk of D and DA within each individual field of dental specialization. Methods: In total, 60 dentists (33 male/27 female) and 60 dental assistants (11 male/49 female) volunteered in this study. The sample was composed of 15 dentists and 15 dental assistants from each of the dental field, in order to represent the fields of dental specialization. In a laboratory setting, all tasks were recorded using an inertial motion capture system. The kinematic data were applied to an automated version of the Rapid Upper Limb Assessment (RULA). Results: The results revealed significantly reduced ergonomic risks in endodontology and orthodontics compared to oral and maxillofacial surgery and general dentistry in DAs, while orthodontics showed a significantly reduced ergonomic risk compared to general dentistry in Ds. Further differences between the fields of dental specialization were found in the right wrist, right lower arm, and left lower arm in DAs and in the neck, right wrist, right lower arm, and left wrist in Ds. The differences between Ds and DAs within a specialist discipline were rather small. Discussion: Independent of whether one works as a D or DA, the percentage of time spent working in higher risk scores is reduced in endodontologists, and especially in orthodontics, compared to general dentists or oral and maxillofacial surgeons. In order to counteract the development of WMSD, early intervention should be made. Consequently, ergonomic training or strength training is recommended. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Wearable Technology for Occupational Risk Assessment and Prevention)

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12 pages, 2638 KiB

Open AccessCommunication

Influence of Wearing Ballistic Vests on Physical Performance of Danish Police Officers: A Cross-Over Study

by Henrik Koblauch, Mette K. Zebis, Mikkel H. Jacobsen, Bjarki T. Haraldsson, Klaus P. Klinge, Tine Alkjær, Jesper Bencke and Lars L. Andersen

Sensors 2021, 21(5), 1795; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/s21051795 - 05 Mar 2021

Cited by 1 | Viewed by 2275

Abstract

Purpose: We aimed to investigate the influence of wearing a ballistic vest on physical performance in police officers. Methods: We performed a cross-over study to investigate the influence of wearing a ballistic vest on reaction and response time, lumbar muscle endurance and police vehicle entry and exit times. Reaction and response time was based on a perturbation setup where the officers’ pelvises were fixed and EMG of lumbar and abdominal muscles was recorded. We used a modified Biering–Sørensen test to assess the lumbar muscle endurance and measured duration of entry and exit maneuvers in a variety of standard-issue police cars. Results: There was a significant difference of 24% in the lumbar muscle endurance test (no vest: 151 s vs. vest: 117 s), and the police officers experienced higher physical fatigue after the test when wearing a vest. Furthermore, officers took longer to both enter and exit police cars when wearing a vest (range: 0.24–0.56 s) depending on the model of the vehicle. There were no significant differences in reaction and response times between the test conditions (with/without vest). Discussion and Conclusion: Wearing of a ballistic vest significantly influenced the speed of movement in entry and exit of police cars and lumbar muscle endurance, although it does not seem to affect reaction or response times. The ballistic vest seems to impair performance of tasks that require maximal effort, which calls for better designs of such vests. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Wearable Technology for Occupational Risk Assessment and Prevention)

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Review

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29 pages, 20946 KiB

Open AccessReview

Applicability of Physiological Monitoring Systems within Occupational Groups: A Systematic Review

by Denisse Bustos, Joana C. Guedes, João Santos Baptista, Mário P. Vaz, José Torres Costa and Ricardo J. Fernandes

Sensors 2021, 21(21), 7249; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/s21217249 - 30 Oct 2021

Cited by 9 | Viewed by 3908

Abstract

The emergence of physiological monitoring technologies has produced exceptional opportunities for real-time collection and analysis of workers’ physiological information. To benefit from these safety and health prognostic opportunities, research efforts have explored the applicability of these devices to control workers’ wellbeing levels during occupational activities. A systematic review is proposed to summarise up-to-date progress in applying physiological monitoring systems for occupational groups. Adhering with the PRISMA Statement, five databases were searched from 2014 to 2021, and 12 keywords were combined, concluding with the selection of 38 articles. Sources of risk of bias were assessed regarding randomisation procedures, selective outcome reporting and generalisability of results. Assessment procedures involving non-invasive methods applied with health and safety-related goals were filtered. Working-age participants from homogeneous occupational groups were selected, with these groups primarily including firefighters and construction workers. Research objectives were mainly directed to assess heat stress and physiological workload demands. Heart rate related variables, thermal responses and motion tracking through accelerometry were the most common approaches. Overall, wearable sensors proved to be valid tools for assessing physiological status in working environments. Future research should focus on conducting sensor fusion assessments, engaging wearables in real-time evaluation methods and giving continuous feedback to workers and practitioners. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Wearable Technology for Occupational Risk Assessment and Prevention)

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