We all know how jarring and dangerous construction work can be, it is highly prone to many safety hazards. With that information and knowledge, it is safe to say that the construction industry has upped its game with introducing construction wearables. What construction wearables and construction wearable safety technology existing in the construction world help construction workers? Also, how efficient are is such construction wearable safety technology? We’ll look into all that in this article.
How to define Construction Wearables?
Construction wearables are pieces of wearable technology safety that generally include a computer or some electronic devices for construction workers’ safety. These safety wearables detect a worker’s environment and send the worker signals related to the environment, activities, and biometric conditions.
It goes without saying that such wearable technology safety is a priority for any construction project, especially given the dangers of construction work.
List of top 6 Construction Wearables
Now, let’s look at six innovative construction wearables reshaping safety;
1. Smartwatches: The Best Smartwatch for Construction Workers
The apple watch among other smartwatches, is the best smartwatch for construction worker’s safety. This is because it contains some really strong sensors that can monitor activity data, detect falls, and also enable safety communication. Let’s look at these features in more detail;
- Health and activity data: Like the name suggest, this watch for construction workers has activity data which enables construction workers to monitor their vitals like heart rate, step counts (usually to prevent overexertion), monitoring electrocardiograms for the detection of abnormal heart rhythms, etc…
- Detecting falls: The leading cause of injury and, worst-case scenarios, death is falling. Some watches for construction workers are capable of detecting falls and immediately alerting emergency personnel on-site. This is very crucial as it speeds up response time and prevents fallen workers from losing too much time in bad scenarios.
- Safe communication: When construction workers are hard at labor, they need to keep their hands occupied, which prevents them from communicating with personnel efficiently. With such personal safety wearables, they can do that with ease and without having to use their hands.
2. Boots: Powerful Footwear with some additional Benefits
Personal safety wearables also include boots that are crucial to a construction worker’s safety. Certain innovative construction boots will uplift their already safe boots to make them even safer. Here are some features that such innovative construction boots provide;
- Pressure detection: Also used to detect falls and minor shocks, there are sensors attached to the sole of the boots that send responses when any such calamity is to occur. When detected of any such calamities, these sensors will notify for help automatically, making such smart safety gear on such construction wearables very handy.
- Location sensing: Like many other smart safety gears that is aware of a worker’s location, construction wearables such as boots are no exception. They have built-in technology that is more sensitive than even a GPS, which has no problems tracking a worker’s location and warning the worker of certain unsafe locations. Now that’s something construction worker boots need.
- Built-in charging: Many wearable safety devices’ needs are built-in technology, and such wearable safety devices do offer those. Construction boots also have in-built chargers located on their heels. A very easy and effective way of charging them is by simply just walking. Construction worker boots are essential and also fun to use.
3. Helmets – an element of the future, protecting more than just your Head
A vital part of construction wearable tools is the protection of a worker’s head. What is even more intriguing is the now indispensable additions to these wearable tools that have sensors around the rim of the hats that can detect fatigue, microsleep, and sensing proximity;
- Fatigue detection: They can detect vitals and inform workers if they are in need of a break.
- Microsleep: These hats are capable of detecting brainwaves and microsleeps even before they occur. Microsleeps are a sudden moment of sleep that usually occurs when a worker is fatigued. These can be extremely dangerous.
- Proximity sensors: If there is to be a potential collision of any kind for the worker, he is alerted in addition to alerting contractors to prevent accidents.
4. Augmented Reality Glasses
Of course, imagery is a very important tool for construction workers, but with this piece of wearable technology, a whole lot more can be detected and called augmented reality glasses to combine physical surrounding imagery and computer-generated imagery and present them together in real-time. This technology protects the workers’ eyes and shows them other vital information such as sharp edges, hazardous materials, etc., to prevent them from much harm.
- Edges: Falls are the most potent of injuries and deaths among construction workers. This latest technology helps them detect sharp edges and other hazardous materials that could put them in harm’s way.
- Hazardous materials: They can provide immediate visuals alerts of any sort of hazardous materials through machine learning.
- Safety protocol: Provides visual cues of safety precautions in the worker’s environment to the worker directly.
5. Bodywear
There are construction wearables that exist for the body as well to keep it safe and sound.
- Heat tracking: This technology can be worn either around the chest or the bicep. It tracks core body heat and alerts contractors if body heat is too much and if the body is in need of shade or water.
- Gas detection: Clipped onto the upper arm or chest area, they detect various dangerous gases in the worker’s environment and send the signals to warn them of such dangerous gases.
- Muscle fatigue: Technology known as “exoskeletons” are used to detect muscle fatigue in the body and report to the worker and the contractors. They can also help improve muscle strength.
6. Other Construction Wearables – Upgrades of what’s available
There are also improvements being made to already existing construction safety wearables. Soon, equipment discussed above such as smart goggles, safety hats, etc., will be replaced with better, more innovative technology that complements more than what there is to offer now.