Success factors to large-scale adoption of wearable technology for musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) prevention: a case study

Abstract

Wearable technology has been playing an increasingly essential role in the construction domain, especially for safety and health related research. Musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) are one of the most prevalent health problems among construction workers due to the physical demanding feature of the construction work. To solve this problem, wearable sensing technology has been applied for MSDs prevention. However, the large-scale adoption of wearables has encountered challenges and barriers. This study firstly reviewed recent literature on the factors influencing wearable technology adoption and designed a survey based on the review to further investigate adoption barriers and strategies using our proposed MSDs prevention system as a case study. The results demonstrate that the discomfort and fatigue caused by wearing devices for a long period of time is the main concerns hindering wearable adoption in our case. Construction managers expressed concerns on the indirect costs of implementation and workers expressed their concern on the invasion of privacy. To address these concerns, strategies to promote wearable adoption identified in literature such as worker training and education and providing personalized features were discussed. This study provides insight into the factors contributing to the large-scale adoption of wearable technology for MSDs prevention from the application perspective.