COVID-19 aside, the use of wearables in construction has been gathering momentum for a while now. In 2017 a study on the acceptability of wearables in Construction stated that employee acceptance of wearable technology differs across use cases and is predicted by factors related to the organisational setting as well as employee characteristics and beliefs. Overall, the study showed that the acceptance of wearables was on the rise, most notably if wearables could help guarantee workers confidence that they will not be injured at work in next 12 months, followed closely by positive safety climate for the project / employer.
Wearables
By wearables we refer to a beacon / bracelet sensor system (no phones) that monitors proximity of workers and alerts workers & a site manager (or administrator) if too many workers are too close together for too long. Monitoring can include recording temperature self-checks and can result in better contact tracing as the data shows who has come into contact with whom at what point, enabling site managers to quickly identify and alert workers about potential risks.
Benefits
Benefits include improving safety, efficiency, and morale. By understanding how workers are distributed, site managers can accurately plan tasks to avoid over-crowding. Ashley Perry, Senior Project Manager at JLL, says ‘By reducing injury, improving safety, and transforming conditions on-site, wearables have the potential to boost morale – as well as alter the job profile.’
Like other on-site run-of-the-mill personal protective equipment, such as goggles and gloves, that is seen as normal, COVID wearables are a low cost, easily deployable way to peace of mind for workers and site managers alike to combat the effects of COVID-19 on the Construction industry.
Productivity
With Boris’ ‘Build, build, build’ mantra and £5billion of resources being made available by the UK Government for the construction of new homes, it is more important now than ever to ensure the safety of your workers and business, and increase productivity.
Wearables can have a positive impact of productivity too; wearables can assist your site planners to accurately assess where the risks lie and actively manage those clusters. Combined with sensible guidance such as working back to back instead of side by side, cleaning tools and staggered break times, COVID wearables can become a useful tool to your toolkit keeping workers safe and carrying on with building.
SMART sites: using wearable technology to track workers and alert site managers about clusters could be a good strategy for your site. Beable, an award-winning technology created by EMS is an easy-to-use system using self-monitoring and wearable devices (no phones) and simple on-site beacon self-installation. Contact EMS today to find out more.
