Worker perspectives on improving occupational health and safety using wearable sensors: a cross-sectional survey

Abstract

Workplace exposure is an important source of ill health. The use of wearable sensors and sensing technologies may help improve and maintain worker health, safety, and wellbeing. Input from workers should inform the integration of these sensors into workplaces. We developed an online survey to understand the acceptability of wearable sensor technologies for occupational health and safety (OSH) management. The survey was disseminated to members of OSH-related organizations, mainly in the United Kingdom and the Netherlands. There were 158 respondents, with over half (n = 91, 58%) reporting current use of wearable sensors, including physical hazards (n = 57, 36%), air quality (n = 53, 34%), and location tracking (n = 36, 23%), although this prevalence likely also captures traditional monitoring equipment. There were no clear distinctions in wearable sensor use between the reported demographic and occupational characteristics, with the exception that hygienists were more likely than non-hygienists (e.g. safety professionals) to use wearable sensors (66% versus 34%). Overall, there was an interest in how sensors can help OSH professionals understand patterns of exposure and improve exposure management practices. Some wariness was expressed primarily around environmental and physical constraints, the quality of the data, and privacy concerns. This survey identified a need to better identify occupational situations that would benefit from wearable sensors and to evaluate existing devices that could be used for occupational hygiene. Further, this work underscores the importance of clearly defining "sensor" according to the occupational setting and context.

Keywords: exposome; health and safety; occupational exposure; occupational hygiene; sensing technology; wearable sensors.

Fig. 1.

Percentages of reported sensor use by sector. “Other” included government (n = 8); petrochemical (n = 6), consultancy (n = 6), multiple (n = 5); all others n<5.