The study on workload analysis of construction workers operating at elevated jobsite using wearable physiological monitor

ABSTRACT

Occupational accidents and casualties in the construction industry are ranked first among all industries. Construction workers are urged to avoid increasing workload and fatigue due to work environment factors in the jobsite with specific hazards of high risk. The present study adopts the photoplethysmography (PPG) monitoring technology of the wearable wristband for monitoring the heart rate (HR). The study establishes the heart rate schema of the workers, evaluate their workload levels, and verify the physiological impact of working at elevated jobsite on the workload through a statistical T-test. In this study, the T-test in pairs reaches the results of 15-minute time interval unit is the most suitable data analysis interval. The worker working in an elevated environment increases heart rate due to the afraid of height and relatively reduce the worker’s ability to adapt to tasks with high physical demands. It is estimated that more than 10% of working time increased from moderate to heavy workload.

CO EDITOR-IN-CHIEF:

• Ou, Yu-Chen

ASSOCIATE EDITOR:

• Ou, Yu-Chen

KEYWORDS:

• Jobsite with specific hazards
• work at elevated jobsite
• photoplethysmography (PPG)
• heart rate (HR)
• workload

Acknowledgments

This work is supported by the Ministry of Science and Technology under Grant [MOST 107-2221-E-002-055-MY2]. The authors would like to thank the funding support. Also, the authors would like to express their gratitude to the Behavioral and Social Science Research Ethics Committee of National Taiwan University for their assistance in IRB procedures and approvals (Grant No. 201707HM016).

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

The work was supported by the Ministry of Science and Technology [MOST 107-2221-E-002-055-MY2].