Antwi-Afari, M F; Li, H; Seo, J; Anwer, S; Yevu, S K and Wu, Z (2020) Validity and reliability of a wearable insole pressure system for measuring gait parameters to identify safety hazards in construction. Engineering, Construction and Architectural Management, 28(6), pp. 1761-1779. ISSN 0969-9988
Abstract
Purpose: Construction workers are frequently exposed to safety hazards on sites. Wearable sensing systems (e.g. wearable inertial measurement units (WIMUs), wearable insole pressure system (WIPS)) have been used to collect workers' gait patterns for distinguishing safety hazards. However, the performance of measuring WIPS-based gait parameters for identifying safety hazards as compared to a reference system (i.e. WIMUs) has not been studied. Therefore, this study examined the validity and reliability of measuring WIPS-based gait parameters as compared to WIMU-based gait parameters for distinguishing safety hazards in construction. Design/methodology/approach: Five fall-risk events were conducted in a laboratory setting, and the performance of the proposed approach was assessed by calculating the mean difference (MD), mean absolute error (MAE), mean absolute percentage error (MAPE), root mean square error (RMSE) and intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) of five gait parameters. Findings: Comparable results of MD, MAE, MAPE and RMSE were found between WIPS-based gait parameters and the reference system. Furthermore, all measured gait parameters had validity (ICC = 0.751) and test-retest reliability (ICC = 0.910) closer to 1, indicating a good performance of measuring WIPS-based gait parameters for distinguishing safety hazards. Research limitations/implications: Overall, this study supports the relevance of developing a WIPS as a noninvasive wearable sensing system for identifying safety hazards on construction sites, thus highlighting the usefulness of its applications for construction safety research. Originality/value: This is the first study to examine the performance of a wearable insole pressure system for identifying safety hazards in construction.
| Item Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | gait parameters; non-fatal fall injuries; safety hazards; wearable inertial measurement unit; wearable insole pressure system |
| Index terms: | construction worker, validity, mean square error, construction safety, methodology, construction site, laboratory, injury |
| Subjects: | work location, health conditions and diseases, environmental health, probability and distributions, evaluation and assessment methods, practitioner, research management, research methods |
| Topics: | Sustainability, Health and Safety, Roles and Professions, Research Practice, Site Management |
| Descriptive scope: | 4 PCTA |
N.B. Descriptive scope is a count of how many of the five facets of empirical research are indicated by the words used in title, abstract and keywords. It is not intended as a judgement on the research; merely a count of the kind of word we would expect to indicate Phenomenon, Concepts, Theoretical framing, Empirical techniques, Analytical techniques. If all five are present, then a code of “5 PCTEA” will indicate this. If you feel the coding for this record is questionable, we welcome discussion around the terms we matched or the way we categorized them. The facet you would expect may not be coded, or a facet may be coded inappropriately. This can also bear on a larger question, of which facets should be treated as defining in construction management research. Please get in touch, and we will look at it. More details here