FW-HTF-P: Building Human-Technology Safety Partnerships in Roadside Work Zones

据报道，公路建设和维护是美国最不安全的职业之一。与其他职业相比，道路工人在工作中受伤或死亡的可能性要高出六倍。在过去的20年里，超过22,000名公路建设和养护工人死于与工作有关的事故，这意味着每年的社会成本为5500万美元。然而，实时提醒工作人员紧急情况是极其困难的，因为工作环境嘈杂而混乱，充满了视觉干扰、强烈的振动和巨大的噪音。确定威胁并采取适当行动是非常具有挑战性的，特别是在可用于应对的时间非常短的情况下。该项目探索了使用联网可穿戴技术来创建智能工作区的概念，以提高员工的安全和舒适度。这种可穿戴设备将帮助工人识别和警告潜在威胁/危险情况，提供初步的先发制人指导，并帮助他们找到安全的方法。研究团队的目标是1)提供基于虚拟现实(VR)的工具来培训工人，2)为机构和承包商提供关于新兴社会技术环境中工人安全的最佳实践的指导方针。一个由科学家、公共/私营利益相关者和行业合作伙伴组成的融合研究团队将(1)开发互联可穿戴设备的初始原型(Future Technology)；(2)使用VR实验来调查工人在危险事件中的行为以及使用和不使用可穿戴设备时的安全相关决策(Future Worker)；以及(3)开发一个新的技术接受模型，并量化这种新的人-技术安全伙伴关系(未来工作)的社会/经济效益。成功的项目成果将被整理成一个培训和学习平台(Shield：工人和司机的危险识别和规避的科学)，启动一个长期研究路线图，将促进工作区域安全技术的设计选择。盾牌平台将提供现实而安全的学习环境，在其中可以测量未来工人在各种危险情况下的回避行为数据，以便为人类-技术安全合作伙伴关系提供信息。该项目产生的VR培训模块将改善员工对可穿戴设备能力的心理模型和整体情况意识，从而使员工和组织能够制定新的安全策略，以提供新的增强的物理能力。对各种工人学习和适应的科学见解将有助于使技术设计更具包容性和有效性，并确保公平的劳动力多样化。最终目标是使盾牌平台可扩展和转移到其他几个具有被击中危险的工作环境中，无论是通过车辆(例如，火灾应答者、拖车、垃圾清除、路边援助和执法)还是通过坠落或飞行的物体(例如，采矿、一般建筑、石油和天然气)。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

Highway construction and maintenance is reported as one of the most unsafe occupations in the United States. Road workers are six times more likely to be injured or killed during work, compared with other occupations. In the past two decades, more than 22,000 highway construction and maintenance workers have died due to work-related accidents, which translates to a societal cost of $55 million/year. Nevertheless, alerting a worker to an emergency in real-time is extremely difficult, as the work environment is noisy and chaotic, filled with visual distractions, heavy vibrations, and loud noises. Identifying threats and taking appropriate action is very challenging, especially when the time available to respond is very brief. This project explores the concept of using connected wearable technology to create smart work zones that would enhance workers' safety & comfort. This wearable device would assist workers in identifying and warning of potential threats/hazardous situations, give initial preemptive guidance, and help them find a way to safety. The research team aims 1) to provide virtual reality (VR)-based tools for training workers and 2) to provide agencies and contractors with guidelines for best practices for worker safety in the emerging sociotechnical landscape.A convergent research team of scientists, public/private stakeholders, and industry partners will (1) develop an initial prototype of connected wearable devices (Future Technology); (2) use VR experiments to investigate workers' behavior during hazardous events and safety-related decisions with and without wearable devices (Future Worker); and (3) develop a novel technology acceptance model and quantify the societal/economic benefits of this new human-technology safety partnership (Future Work). Successful project outcomes will be collated into a training-and-learning platform (SHIELD: the Science of Hazard Identification and Evasion for Laborers and Drivers), initiating a long-term research roadmap that will facilitate design choices for work zone safety technology. The SHIELD platform will provide realistic yet safe learning environments in which data on future workers' evasive behavior in various struck-by-hazard scenarios can be measured in order to inform the human-technology safety partnership. The VR training modules resulting from this project will improve the workers' mental model of the wearable device capabilities and overall situational awareness, thereby enabling workers and organizations to formulate new safety strategies afforded by the newly augmented physical capabilities. The scientific insights on learning and adaptation across a diverse range of workers will help make the technology designs more inclusive and effective and ensure equitable workforce diversification. The eventual aim is to make the SHIELD Platform scalable and transferable to several other work contexts with struck-by hazards, either by vehicles (e.g., fire respondents, towing, waste removal, roadside assistance, and law enforcement) or by falling or flying objects (e.g., mining, general construction, oil, and gas).This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.