Wearable Risk Alert System for Worker Safety
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Solution Overview
Problem
Worker self-assessment of risk in the workplace is limited and often insufficient to prevent accidents and injuries, as it does not account for various physical, cognitive, and emotional states that can contribute to hazardous situations.
Innovation Solution
A system and method using wearable indicators that predict elevated risk conditions by analyzing worker states through unsupervised and supervised learning, sending perceivable alerts to workers via visual, auditory, or tactile signals, and adjusting machine operations to mitigate risks.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If worker self-assessment of risk is used, then worker autonomy is maintained, but risk detection accuracy deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces wearable devices and monitoring systems as intermediaries between the worker and the risk assessment process. These devices objectively measure physiological and environmental parameters, providing accurate risk detection without removing worker autonomy. The system mediates by translating complex data into simple alerts that workers can easily interpret and respond to.
Solution Approach 2:
The system implements continuous feedback loops where worker states are monitored, analyzed, and fed back to the worker through alerts. This feedback mechanism enhances risk detection accuracy by providing real-time objective information about hazardous conditions, while workers maintain autonomy by deciding how to respond to the alerts based on their judgment and training.
2Measurement precision
If comprehensive worker state monitoring is implemented, then risk prediction accuracy is improved, but system complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The monitoring system is segmented into multiple independent components: wearable devices for physiological monitoring, environmental sensors for hazard detection, communication modules for alert transmission, and analysis systems for data processing. Each segment performs a specific function, which simplifies the overall system while maintaining comprehensive monitoring capabilities through coordinated operation of these modular elements.
3Loss of time
If real-time alerts are sent to workers, then response time to hazards is reduced, but information overload may occur
Solution Approach 1:
Alerts are customized based on the specific worker, their role, current task, and detected hazard type. Each worker receives information tailored to their local context and needs, ensuring that alerts are relevant and actionable. This approach maintains high information quality by providing specific, targeted warnings rather than generic notifications, reducing the likelihood of information overload while enabling rapid response.
Data Source
AI summary
Described herein is a method for alerting of personal risk in the workplace through a wearable indication signifying a risk condition that includes generating a set of workplace predictors of risk relating to accidents, injury, and industrial hygiene, based on at least one worker state that includes at least one of a physical state, a cognitive state, and an emotional state, and alerting a worker endangered by a predicted elevated risk to the existence of the predicted elevated risk by sending a perceivable alert to the worker. A system for alerting of personal workplace risk is also described.