NC ASSP Chapter – Technical Meeting, October 2026 (HYBRID)

TOPIC:
Addressing the Silent Crisis: Wearable Technology for Construction Worker Well-Being

SESSION DESCRIPTION:
Construction has made significant progress in managing visible jobsite hazards, but risks such as stress, fatigue, cognitive overload, and psychological distress are much harder to see. These conditions often develop gradually, affecting a worker’s focus, judgment, situational awareness, and well-being before anyone recognizes a problem. Addressing this gap will require the industry to look beyond injuries and incident rates and consider how early signs of distress could inform more proactive safety decisions.

This session provides an overview of research exploring whether wearable sensors and artificial intelligence can help identify those early patterns. The study examines physiological measures such as heart-rate variability, electrodermal activity and skin temperature. It also evaluates wearable devices and machine-learning methods that could translate complex physiological signals into useful, evidence-based safety insights. The discussion will connect this research to everyday construction practice. Attendees will consider how emerging indicators could complement, rather than replace, worker conversations, supervisor observations, pre-task planning, and fatigue-management efforts. Potential applications include recognizing elevated risk, offering support earlier, and identifying when workloads, schedules, site conditions, or available resources may need attention. Wearable AI is not presented as a diagnostic or surveillance system, but as a potential decision-support tool that could help safety professionals recognize emerging concerns and act before they contribute to unsafe conditions or serious outcomes.

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