The quantified-Self and wearable technologies in the workplace: implications and challenges for their implementations

Introduction of technologies in the workplace have led to a dramatic change. These changes have come with an increased capacity to gather data about one’s working performance (i.e. productivity), as well as the capacity to track one’s personal responses (i.e. emotional, physiological, etc.) to this changing workplace environment. This movement of self-monitoring or self-sensing using diverse types of wearable sensors combined with the use of computing has been identified as the Quantified-Self. Miniaturization of sensors, reduction in cost and a non-stop increase in the computer power capacity has led to a panacea of wearables and sensors to track and analyze all types of information. Utilized in the personal sphere to track information, a looming question remains, should employers use the information from the Quantified-Self to track their employees’ performance or well-being in the workplace and will this benefit employees? The aim of the present work is to layout the implications and challenges associated with the use of Quantified-Self information in the workplace. The Quantified-Self movement has enabled people to understand their personal life better by tracking multiple information and signals; such an approach could allow companies to gather knowledge on what drives productivity for their business and/or well-being of their employees. A discussion about the implications of this approach will cover 1) Monitoring health and well-being, 2) Oversight and safety, and 3) Mentoring and training. Challenges will address the question of 1) Privacy and Acceptability, 2) Scalability and 3) Creativity. Even though many questions remain regarding their use in the workplace, wearable technologies and Quantified-Self data in the workplace represent an exciting opportunity for the industry and health and safety practitioners who will be using them.

Ergonomic analysis in a food packaging workplace

Work-related musculoskeletal disorders (WMSD) became one of the biggest health problems in the workplace and one of the main concerns of ergonomics and despite all the technical improvements manual handling is still an important risk factor for WMSD. The current study was performed with the main objective of conducting an ergonomic analysis in a workplace that consists in packaging products in a pallet, in a food distribution industry, also called picking. In this perspective, the aim of the study is to identify if the tasks performed by operators present any risk of WMSD and, if so, to suggest proposals for minimizing the associated effort. The methodologies of ergonomic risk assessment that were initially applied were the Risk Reckoner and the Manual Handling Assessment Chart (MAC). Subsequently, in order to, on the one hand, complement the analysis performed using the two methods previously mentioned, and, on the other hand, allow an assessment of two important risk factors associated with this activity (work postures and loads handling), two additional methodologies were also selected: the Revised NIOSH Lifting Equation and the Rapid Entire Body Assessment (REBA). In all the performed approaches, the tasks of palletizing at lower levels were identified as the ones that most penalize workers in what regards the risk of development of WMSD. All methodologies identified levels of risk that require an immediate or short-term ergonomic intervention, aiming at ensuring the safety and health of workers performing such activity. The implementation of measures designed to eliminate or minimize the risk may involve the allocation of significant human and material resources that is increasingly necessary to manage efficiently. Taking into account the complexity and variability of the developed tasks, it is recommended that such a decision can be preceded by a new study using more accurate risk assessment methodologies, such as those that use monitoring tools.