Assessment of Physical Demand in Bridge Rehabilitation Work by Physiological Status Monitoring

9 pages•Published: December 11, 2023

Abstract

Transportation construction projects involve long working hours where workers are subjected to intensive tasks such as hard manual work and compulsive working postures. Physically demanding work can be fatiguing as well as alter the mental state, which may, in turn, lead to decreased productivity, poor judgement, and ultimately more accidents and injuries. Therefore, monitoring and controlling physical demand is of paramount importance to sustain productivity without undermining workers' safety and health. The objective of this study is to apply a non-intrusive system to monitor and assess the physical demand of transportation construction workers using the percentage of Heart Rate Reserve (%HRR) as a measure. For this study, five bridge maintenance workers volunteered to record their physiological metrics while performing various construction and maintenance tasks. The case study results showed that bridge maintenance workers had an average daily %HRR over %30 which according to the literature can be considered as having a “high” cardiovascular load during an eight hour working day. The primary contribution of this research is the assessment of the physical demands of transportation construction workers with respect to acceptable physiological thresholds and boundaries. The application of the present approach can support construction workers in preventing excessive cardiovascular overload.

Keyphrases: Heart rate reserve, Occupational Health and Safety, Physical Demands, Transportation Construction workers, wearable devices

In: Tom Leathem, Wesley Collins and Anthony J. Perrenoud (editors). Proceedings of 59th Annual Associated Schools of Construction International Conference, vol 4, pages 417--425

Links:	https://easychair.org/publications/paper/bCl7
	https://doi.org/10.29007/q2zn