A Pilot Study on an Integrated Service Based on Wearable Textile Platforms to promote Workers Wellness at Workplace

Area of Science:

• Occupational Health
• Wearable Technology
• Biomedical Engineering

Background:

• Employee well-being is crucial for productivity and job satisfaction.
• Traditional methods for assessing workplace wellness lack objective physiological data.
• The Wearables project aimed to bridge this gap using innovative sensing technologies.

Purpose of the Study:

• To implement an integrated service using sensing textiles to enhance employee well-being.
• To investigate the correlation between daily work activities and physiological parameters in waste collection workers.
• To acquire objective indicators for improved workplace wellness.

Main Methods:

• Monitoring 28 volunteers in waste collection over 275 data acquisition sessions.
• Utilizing sensing textiles to collect objective, work-correlated physical parameters during daily activities.
• Evaluating parameters such as heart rate, energy expenditure, and heart rate activity-zone distribution.

Main Results:

• The service successfully monitored individual subjects and identified trends related to different job roles.
• Encouraging results were observed in correlating physical parameters with work activities.
• The system demonstrated potential for identifying objective indicators of employee well-being.

Conclusions:

• Wearable technologies offer innovative approaches to workplace wellness monitoring.
• Sensing textiles provide a viable method for collecting objective physiological data in occupational settings.
• The implemented service shows promise for improving employee well-being in physically demanding jobs.