Predicting risk of heat-related injuries for individuals wearing personal protective equipment using smartwatches

Abstract

BACKGROUND: The risk of developing heat-related illness increases when personal protective equipment (PPE) is worn, especially in hot and humid environments. While cooling strategies are effective, they must be applied preemptively or delivered promptly, which can be difficult if individuals are working in dangerous environments or wearing contaminated PPE. Wearable sensors can be leveraged to continuously monitor health including heart rate, respiration rate, blood oxygen levels, and physical activity.

OBJECTIVE: This study aims to (1) evaluate the use of wearable sensors for monitoring the real-time health of individuals wearing PPE to mitigate the risk of developing a heat-related illness and enable timely intervention, (2) understand how PPE may affect smartwatch data quality and comfort, and (3) identify circumstances in which people wearing PPE may not be able to wear a smartwatch.

METHODS: Individuals participating in planned field trainings or exercises where PPE was being worn were asked to wear Garmin Fenix 6 smartwatch (Garmin Ltd) before, during, and after the event to monitor health and recovery. These convenience cohorts were selected to understand the feasibility of using smartwatches with different types of PPE (ie, level C PPE and firefighter gear) for different types of training (ie, a simulated environmental cleanup exercise and skill and tactical maneuver training for new firefighter recruits).

RESULTS: Two data collections were conducted using the Garmin Fenix 6 smartwatch to assess wearability, data quality, and data accuracy. For the first effort, participants wore the watch for 3.9-5.1 days, and wear compliance ranged from 83.8% to 99.9%. For the second effort, participants wore the watch for the exercise only, which was 3.5 hours. Participants were able to wear the watches for the entire time that they were wearing PPE and did not report any adverse events. Changes in heart rate corresponded with changes in physical activity, providing evidence that physiology can be acceptably monitored during physical activity. Heart rate data artifact ranged between 5.8% and 9.3% and was highest for the control participant (second data collection) who was not wearing PPE.

CONCLUSIONS: Based on the results obtained from the 8 pilot users, the Garmin Fenix 6 smartwatch is an appropriate choice for continuously monitoring the health of individuals wearing PPE. The watch can be tolerated for extended wear periods and data quality is sufficient for monitoring heart rate and predicting core body temperature.