Towards Smart Work Clothing for Automatic Risk Assessment of Physical Workload

Work-related musculoskeletal and cardiovascular disorders are still prevalent in today's working population. Nowadays, risk assessments are usually performed via self-reports or observations, which have relatively low reliability. Technology developments in textile electrodes (textrodes), inertial measurement units, and the communication and processing capabilities of smart phones/tablets provide wearable solutions that enable continuous measurements of physiological and musculoskeletal loads at work with sufficient reliability and resource efficiency. In this paper, a wearable system integrating textrodes, motion sensors, and real-time data processing through a mobile application was developed as a demonstrator of risk assessment related to different types and levels of workload and activities. The system was demonstrated in eight subjects from four occupations with various workload intensities, during which the heart rate and leg motion data were collected and analyzed with real-time risk assessment and feedback. The system showed good functionality and usability as a risk assessment tool. The results contribute to designing and developing future wearable systems and bring new solutions for the prevention of work-related disorders.