Enhancing Ergonomics in Construction Industry Environments: A Digital Solution with Scalable Event-Driven Architecture

Abstract

The construction sector remains among the least digitized and automated industries, where human cognitive intervention is still necessary for many tasks. These tasks often entail significant physical exertion, increasing the risk of Musculoskeletal Disorders (MSDs) when workers perform unexpected movements or events. While assessment methods and technologies like wearable devices, bio-signal sensors, and digital tools enable real-time monitoring of ergonomic factors, integrating them simultaneously presents a challenge. This paper describes developing and implementing an event-based architecture to address this complexity. This architecture monitors each integrated system in real time, offering workers immediate feedback on their ergonomic behaviors and adjustments while predicting potential hazards. Furthermore, it facilitates group work by enhancing coordination and communication among team members through real-time sharing of relevant ergonomic data and insights.The architecture consists of three layers that can be scaled according to needs. 1) The physical layer manages all data sources, such as motion capture, electromyography, and external sensor systems. Each system uses the IoT messaging protocol MQTT to send and exchange data. 2) The digital layer consists of several frameworks for stream-producing data and distributing the parallel computing through several microservices, and 3) the human-system interaction layer where the results or outcome of the services go. The information could be displayed to give feedback, warning alerts, or just notifications to the worker through AR glasses, or an external monitoring system could be used for post-ergonomics analysis. Our initial findings highlight integrating a motion capture system into the architecture. This integration empowers the deployment of ergonomic evaluation methods such as RULA, REBA, and the body joint angle range classification to mitigate ergonomic risks during construction tasks effectively.

Keywords: Event-Driven Architecture, Digital Ergonomics, Stream Processing

DOI: 10.54941/ahfe1005358