Deploying Smart Watch Technology to Measure and Mitigate Heat Stress Among Maritime Transportation Workers

As global temperatures continue to rise, workers in the maritime transportation industry are increasingly exposed to high-heat and high-humidity conditions, exacerbating their risk of developing heat-related illnesses. These illnesses range in severity from muscle cramps and spasms; to heat exhaustion, which if left untreated, can progress to heat stroke; to heat stroke, a life-threatening emergency that requires immediate medical attention. In the U.S., the number of days of exposure to extreme heat is predicted to more than double by the mid-21st century. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration has identified a variety of maritime transportation industries as heat-related “high risk”. They include port and harbor operations (port facility and waterfront terminal operations; maintenance services; waterfront terminal, wharf, seaway, canal and harbor operations; canal and harbor maintenance services), marine cargo handling (loading and unloading services at ports and harbors; marine cargo handling services; longshoremen and stevedoring services; ship hold cleaning services), navigational services to shipping (docking and undocking marine vessel services; cargo salvaging; harbor tugboat and piloting services; marine vessel traffic reporting), and other support activities for water transportation (marine cargo checkers and surveyors, drydocks and floating repair; ship scaling services not done at a shipyard; ship dismantling at floating drydock). If early warning indicators of heat stress can be identified, then the possibility of a worker developing a heat-related illness can be mitigated. Smart watches have the potential to function as a means for detecting when a heat-related illness is imminent and/or progressing. Recent studies have demonstrated that skin temperature of an individual's wrist can predict whole-body thermal sensations. The proposed project is designed to address the following research questions: (1) What are the key indicators that can be used to quantify heat stress? (2) Can a smartwatch be used to measure heat stress among maritime transportation workers in high-risk industries? (3) Can heat stress predictive models be used to prevent the development of heat-related illnesses by incorporating a complete closed feedback loop? The project will begin by performing a comprehensive literature review to identify the state-of-the-practice and where research gaps currently exist. These results will inform the development of a conceptual approach with the goal of conducting a real-world pilot. Considerations contributing to this effort will include the following: (1) develop and test machine learning models to predict heat stress based on data collected from a commercially available smartwatch, (2) implement a closed feedback loop system that can alert workers and their supervisors in real-time about the onset of heat stress, enabling immediate intervention, (3) analyze the effectiveness and practicality of deploying smartwatch-based heat stress monitoring systems in mitigating the risk of heat-related illnesses among maritime transportation workers, and (4) investigate the impact of individual differences (e.g., age, fitness level, acclimatization status) on the accuracy and reliability of heat stress prediction.

Language

• English

Project

• Status: Active
• Funding: $150000
• Contract Numbers:

  69A3552348331

• Sponsor Organizations:

  Office of the Assistant Secretary for Research and Technology

  University Transportation Centers Program
  Department of Transportation
  Washington, DC  United States  20590
• Managing Organizations:

  Maritime Transportation Research and Education Center (MarTREC)

  University of Arkansas
  4190 Bell Engineering Center
  Fayetteville, AR  United States  72701
• Performing Organizations:

  Vanderbilt University

  Box 96-B
  Nashville, TN  United States  37235
• Principal Investigators:

  Abkowitz, Mark

• Start Date: 20240801
• Expected Completion Date: 20251231
• Actual Completion Date: 0
• USDOT Program: University Transportation Centers

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Data collection; Detection and identification technologies; High temperature; Maritime industry; Occupational safety; Shipboard personnel; Smartphones; Stress (Physiology)
• Subject Areas: Data and Information Technology; Marine Transportation; Safety and Human Factors;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01924916
• Record Type: Research project
• Source Agency: Maritime Transportation Research and Education Center (MarTREC)
• Contract Numbers: 69A3552348331
• Files: UTC, RIP
• Created Date: Jul 23 2024 4:18PM