Wearable sensors aim to detect signs of heatstroke and warn workers

Researchers are developing wearable sensors that measure workers’ vital signs. The goal is for the system send them alerts if they are at risk of heatstroke.

Outdoor workers face the highest risk from extreme heat, which can turn deadly in a matter of minutes. So researchers have begun experimenting with wearable sensors that can monitor a worker’s vital signs and warn them if they start exhibiting early signs of heat stroke. 

In Pierson, Florida, where temperatures can soar into the 90s before noon, workers on a fern farm have been equipped with experimental biopatches as part of a study sponsored by the National Institutes of Health. The patches measure the workers’ vital signs and skin hydration, and include a gyroscope to monitor continuous movement. 

Scientists from Emory University and Georgia Tech are collecting the data, which is then fed into an artificial intelligence algorithm. The eventual goal is for the AI to predict when a worker could be struck by heat illness and send alerts to their phone before that happens. For now, though, the researchers are still analyzing the data, which they plan to publish in studies next year.

“There’s this notion that working out in the field, it’s hot. It’s just the way it is,” said Roxana Chicas, a nurse-researcher at Emory who has been overseeing the biopatch data collection. “I think that with research, creativity, we can find ways to protect the workers while they’re working in the field.”

An average of 34 workers died of heat exposure annually from 1992 to 2022, according to the Environmental Protection Agency.  Farmworkers are 35 times more likely to die from it than other workers. But heat protections for laborers have thus far been left up to states. In California, for example, employers must provide training, water and shade if temperatures exceed 80 degrees Fahrenheit, but many states lack such rules. 

https://www.nbcnews.com/health/health-news/biosensors-aim-detect-heatstroke-warn-workers-rcna168881

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