Information Technology Reference
In-Depth Information
International standards for designing such prevention plans should be defined,
developed and maintained by a multidisciplinary team of experts of various fields
related to the prevention of diseases and injuries at work. Such a team should include
experts in different disciplines, i.e. occupational medicine, technology, law, economics,
sociology and architecture.
New technologies and solutions should also be developed to carry out preventive
action.
In particular, adopting the AAL approach, working environments and instruments
can be conceived and designed to monitor the state of workers' health, to maintain the
best environmental conditions, to recognize potentially dangerous events and to
promptly alert staff who are responsible in the company or office of cases that need
attention.
Smart wireless sensor networks, which monitor instruments, workers and
surrounding environments, and advanced processing algorithms of data events allow
the recognition of health status, working tasks being carried out and any potentially
detrimental conditions. According to these results, smart systems can take preventive
action and advice and support actions and alert the people responsible for workers´
welfare.
To clarify this theory, an example of a working scenario based on AAL solutions
for the preservation of employees' health is described in Scenario 15.
Scenario 15.
Working Environment and Workers' Health Monitoring
Antoine is 64 years old and he is working in the painting sector of a business that produces furniture for
offices. He suffers from diabetes mellitus.
His company has adopted an innovative AAL solution to monitor the health status of its workers that is
based on various environmental sensors which measure surrounding parameters. These parameters include
temperature, humidity, level of foul air, excessive presence of chemical agents in the air, and acoustic noise
level. Smart watches are worn by company employees, which measure temperature, pulse and blood
oxygenation of the specific subject and identify each worker and his or her position in the working
environment.
In Antoine's case, the company has provided him with a specific smart watch that also measures the glucose
level present in his blood.
When Antoine starts to paint an office desk, the environmental processor recognizes:
1. the specific tool he is using for painting;
2. his location in the sector;
3. the level of paint particles in the air.
According to the last parameter, the processor directs the activation of the air conditioner to change the air in
the sector.
Sometimes, when the level of paint particles in the air is far too high and the air conditioner is not effective
enough, the processor alerts the manager of the sector who then directs the employees to stop work, giving
them a break so that they can leave that area allowing enough time for the air conditioner to change the air.
Further, in Antoine's case, if his smart watch measures a level of glucose that is beyond the optimal range,
the system sends an alert to him and to his manager in order to remind him that he must have a break to take
insulin.
The parameters related to temperature, pulse and blood oxygenation of Antoine and his colleagues combined
with data about the tasks they are carrying out and the duration of these activities are information that is
used to recognize the actual welfare of each worker, agitation states, and reduction of attention level. If any
of these events is identified in a worker, his or her manager is alerted to monitor the status of the employee
and take any necessary action. In a similar way additional breaks are introduced if loud noises last over a
longer period.
Thanks to these smart working environmental systems, preventive actions to support workers like Antoine
are able to preserve their state of health. In this way, the onset of diseases among employees of the company
is greatly reduced and the quality and productivity of workers are guaranteed with consequent increase in
the company's efficiency and profitability.
