Automatic Identification of Unsafe Bending Behavior of Construction Workers using Real-time Location Sensing and Physiological Status Monitoring

Nowadays, remote sensing technology allows for autonomous and remote data collection of construction resources. Data collected from various sources can be used to infer higher-level information about the entities being observed. This process, called data fusion, has been used in construction for tracking the location of material and equipment with a lack of studies on the use of data fusion for improving knowledge of workforce. This study explored the utilization of a data fusion approach for a continuous remote monitoring of construction workers’ location and health. To this end, the authors deployed non-intrusive real-time worker location sensing (RTLS) and physiological status monitoring (PSM) technology, and later, used data fusion to analyze data from these devices. INTRODUCTION The construction industry is continuously trying to improve work site conditions. However, in 2008, 28,340 nonfatal occupational injuries resulted in musculoskeletal disorders (BLS 2008) and 3,020 workers suffered from lower back pain. Among various well-known reasons, construction activities are typically characterized as physically demanding tasks that are often performed in harsh environments (Hartmann and Fleischer 2005; Schneider and Susi 1994). As a result of the continuous and repetitive exposure to physically demanding work, strains and sprains are the most common type of work-related, nonfatal injuries. Furthermore, the continuous exposure to an excessive level of physical strain can lead to physical fatigue, which may result in decreased productivity and motivation, inattentiveness, poor judgment, poor quality work, job dissatisfaction (Abdelhamid and Everett 2002), and increase in the risk of developing worker-related musculoskeletal injuries (MSIs) or cardiovascular disorders (Mathiassen 1993). Previous research found that lower back injuries are among the most common MSIs (Hootman et al. 2002). These occur when the demand of work exceeds the capacity of a worker’s body, or the worker repetitively performs heavy activities. MSIs can also be found in other parts of the body, such as the shoulders, wrists, and 633 Construction Research Congress 2012 © ASCE 2012