PRACTICAL VALIDATION MEASUREMENTS OF A PHYSIOLOGICAL STATUS MONITORING SENSOR IN REAL CONSTRUCTION ACTIVITIES

Abstract

The construction industry is one of the most hazardous industry and construction worker's health and safety in hot and humid weather conditions become a topic of a great interest for researchers and practitioners. Various physiological monitoring sensors have been employed to measure the physiological impacts of such weather conditions. However, the ability of these sensors to deal with the dynamic nature of the construction industry still under controversial arguments and there is a need to justify their applicability in real working conditions. This paper aims to investigate the accuracy of an off-the-shelf physiological monitoring sensor (Zephyr BioHarnessTM 3) in a real working environment when considering the impact of hot and humid weather conditions. Fifteen different construction workers participated in three site measurements, with monitoring two physiological parameters heart rate (HR) and breathing rate (BR). A non-parametric statistical test (Mann-Whitney) was applied to identify whether there is a significant difference between the medians of live data in the remote monitoring station and saved data of the sensor internal memories. The results showed that there are significant differences between live data and saved data. These differences were highly noticed in the third site measurements, as it included working in confined areas and trenches. The accuracy of live data is highly affected by types of activities and appropriate positions of the wireless connection devices (ECHO gate and repeater).