Using Wearable Devices to Explore the Relationship Among the Work Productivity, Psychological State, and Physical Status of Construction Workers

Due to the increasing growth of labor cost, academics and practitioners in this field have focused on finding ways to improve work productivity. Many previous studies have indicated that mental status has a deep influence on productivity. However, the relationship among work productivity, psychological state, and physical status has not been explored in the field of architecture, engineering, and construction (ACE). As an initial exploration, this paper proposes a system to analyze how the psychological and physical status of construction workers influence their productivity. In this exploration, smart bands are adopted to measure the physical status of the bricklayers, STAI is used to collect the psychological data, and the time taken by construction workers to complete a unit of work (i.e., wall building) is recorded to reflect work productivity. Analysis on the correlations of the three dimensions (work productivity, psychological state, and physical status) was conducted. The initial experiment was conducted in Chongqing, China, from May 1st to May 3rd, 2018. The results show that bricklayers are in a relatively low level of anxiety, and that anxiety and heart rate levels are positively correlated with work productivity. The wearable device-based system facilitates the real-time monitoring of construction workers' psychological and physical status. In turn, such information can help in planning their working schedules to enable them to work more efficiently.