Wearable sensors for respiratory protection in occupational settings

Wearable sensors are emerging as potential safety tools for protecting the respiratory health of workers across industries.

This review summarizes recent research and technological advances in wearable sensors that enable continuous monitoring of respiratory metrics, including personal respiratory health and environmental exposure, across diverse workplaces. The review highlights the integration of these sensors into respirators and face masks for real-time monitoring of respiratory status, exposure, and device integrity. To illustrate the practical implications, the paper discusses representative case studies from high-risk sectors, including mining, firefighting, healthcare, construction, and oil and gas.

This review reveals that, although several types of wearable respiratory sensors are available for public use, only a few are specifically tailored for occupational respiratory protection. Efforts toward field validation, standards development, user acceptance, and regulatory compliance are needed to translate prototypes into practical tools for occupational risk mitigation.

The future of workplace respiratory safety will also benefit from the integration of these sensors with emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence, machine learning, the Internet of Things, and computer vision.

This study provides an overview of the current state of wearable respiratory sensors, identifies outstanding challenges that hinder their widespread adoption in occupational settings, and outlines potential avenues for future research to translate them into validated occupational safety tools.