A Holistic Work Zone Safety Alert System through Automated Video and Smartphone Sensor Data Analysis

This project was inspired by a major gap identified in the literature pertaining to work zone safety monitoring systems that leverage advanced technologies for tracking workers, identifying hazardous situations, and alerting workers of danger. Existing systems target safety hazards that are either external to the work zone (e.g., accidents due to vehicular intrusions) or workers’ internal physical/physiological states (e.g., human-factor ergonomics such as improper or prolonged use of vibrating hand tools). This project presents a holistic approach in which visual and wearable sensor data are used for safety monitoring and alert generation to offer a practical mitigation strategy to both external and internal safety risks. With a major focus on feasibility of adoption and facilitating maintenance, smartphones were used in this project to provide a ubiquitous platform for data collection and communication. A mobile application was developed to generate an alert when unsafe vibration levels were reached in proximity to a high vibration power tool such as a jackhammer. Additionally, visual data collected from surveillance cameras were analyzed to detect speeding vehicles approaching the work zone. In either of these situations, a worker with the application running on their smartphone would be alerted of the internal or external safety hazard.