Work-related musculoskeletal disorders are a major concern globally affecting societies, companies, and individuals. To address this, a new sensor-based system is presented: the Smart Workwear ...System, aimed at facilitating preventive measures by supporting risk assessments, work design, and work technique training. The system has a module-based platform that enables flexibility of sensor-type utilization, depending on the specific application. A module of the Smart Workwear System that utilizes haptic feedback for work technique training is further presented and evaluated in simulated mail sorting on sixteen novice participants for its potential to reduce adverse arm movements and postures in repetitive manual handling. Upper-arm postures were recorded, using an inertial measurement unit (IMU), perceived pain/discomfort with the Borg CR10-scale, and user experience with a semi-structured interview. This study shows that the use of haptic feedback for work technique training has the potential to significantly reduce the time in adverse upper-arm postures after short periods of training. The haptic feedback was experienced positive and usable by the participants and was effective in supporting learning of how to improve postures and movements. It is concluded that this type of sensorized system, using haptic feedback training, is promising for the future, especially when organizations are introducing newly employed staff, when teaching ergonomics to employees in physically demanding jobs, and when performing ergonomics interventions.
Personal protective clothing (PPC) is required in a variety of sectors and is important from both a safety and a thermal management standpoint. Materials used in PPC play a key role in protection. ...Extensive research has been conducted on the risk variables that lead to thermal load and the corresponding functional properties of PPC, particularly in high-risk categories. In contrast, despite the fact that employees who wear this type of PPC constitute a major fraction of the industrial workforce, relatively little study has been undertaken on PPC materials in low-risk categories and their thermal management properties. For this study, four new PPC materials were specifically engineered to have improved thermal attributes and were compared with four existing PPC materials of equivalent protection levels, as well as four summer-season civilian materials, to determine the most suitable materials for use in hot outdoor environments. We investigated and compared the thermal management properties of these novel materials, including liquid moisture transfer, thermal and water vapor resistance, and air permeability, to those of current materials used in low-risk PPC as well as civilian materials. The results demonstrated that the new PPC materials had improved thermal and vapor resistance; superior liquid moisture transfer properties; higher air permeability; and were lower in mass and thickness than the existing PPC materials. Furthermore, the new materials compared favorably with the civilian materials in a number of these attributes. The new materials should be included in low-risk PPC designed for use in hot outdoor conditions.
Vibrotactile feedback training may be used as a complementary strategy to reduce time in demanding postures in manual handling. This study evaluated the short- and medium-term effects of concurrent ...posture-correction vibrotactile feedback training on trunk inclination exposure in real manual sorting work. Fifteen warehouse workers completed the training and the follow-up sessions. Trunk inclination angles were recorded using the ambulatory Smart Workwear System. Questionnaires were used for assessing system usability, perceived physical exertion, and work ability. The results showed reduced time in trunk inclination >30°, >45°, and >60°, and reductions in the 90th, 95th, and 99th percentile trunk inclination angles, when receiving feedback and immediately after feedback withdrawal. No significant reduction was retained after one and three weeks. The wearer's comfort was scored high, and the feedback did not increase the perceived cognitive demands. No significant effects attributed to changed trunk inclination exposure were observed for perceived physical exertion or work ability. The training program has the potential of contributing to reduced trunk inclination exposure in the short term. Future studies are needed to evaluate if improvements in the feedback training can transfer the short-term results to retained median- and long-term effects.
Practitioner summary: A two-day training program with concurrent posture-correction vibrotactile feedback can contribute to reduced exposure of trunk inclination in real manual sorting work in the short term. More research is needed on how to design the feedback training programs in order to be effective in the long term.
•In Switzerland per worker 1.6 kg/y workwear are procured; 0.4 kg/y are collected in companies and 1.2 kg/y are disposed of by employees.•Waste management: 0.6 kg/y are reused, 0.7 kg/y are ...incinerated, and about 0.3 kg/y are open-loop recycled.•According to the extrapolation 3200 t range, 480–7′800 t (0.4 kg/capita range, 0.1–1 kg) of workwear per year are consumed in Switzerland.•The numbers of this study are based on a limited number of companies data.
The textile sector with its linear management leads to environmental damage and high amounts of post-consumer waste. Circular economy has been identified as a promising solution. Workwear is assumed to have high potential for circularity because of its high, constant, and uniform material quality and quantity. There is little research on categorized material waste flows of workwear. To fill this gap, workwear flows of eight Swiss companies in 2019 were collected and analyzed. The results show that 1.6 kg/y/worker of workwear are procured. Concerning waste management, 0.6 kg/y are reused, 0.7 kg/y are incinerated, and 0.3 kg/y are recycled. According to the extrapolation, 0.4 kg/y/capita of workwear were consumed. The most weight-represented material type is mixed material, dominated by polycotton. Natural material, is the second biggest category, followed by synthetic and cellulosic materials. This study emphasizes the importance to monitor workwear flow data to enhance cooperation throughout the textile value chain and initiate circular management.
Abstract This article offers new insights into the national market for utilitarian garments worn by British upper-class Munitionettes in the pursuit of essential First World War munition manufacture. ...There has been a resurgence in recent years in the interest of women’s workwear, but little dress historical research has been undertaken into the manufacture and consumption of these garments by upper-class women, which this article seeks to address. The numbers of women involved in munition production peaked in 1917 at almost 1,000,000 meaning the circulation of workwear in this industry alone, was in the millions. Workwear worn by upper-class women represents discourses of wealth, femininity, respectability, and patriotism. That such expensive and high-quality garments exist speaks to the cultural significance the women themselves recognized in these utilitarian garments. This workwear symbolized their contribution to the war effort, the political ambitions for suffrage and personal achievement. These garments were not worn outside the workplace as the fabric would have been contaminated with chemicals, thus would not have been pleasant to preserve. Crucially, it is through the material cultural analysis of rare extant high-end garments worn by upper-class women, that the extent of the market for workwear has been revealed.
Encouraging feedback is shown to increase motivation and facilitate learning in different settings, though there is a lack of knowledge of applying it in work technique training. This pilot study ...aimed to evaluate two accumulated vibrotactile feedback strategies for work technique training using a smart workwear system. Eight women and two men participated in the study. They were divided into two groups, receiving the corrective feedback or the combined corrective and encouraging feedback while doing simulated manual handling tasks in a lab environment. Questionnaires and semi-structured interviews were used to evaluate the motivation, learning, and user experiences. In this small sample size, we saw that both groups significantly improved their work technique of upper arm and trunk postures, and no significant difference between groups was seen. In addition, both groups reported increased ergonomic awareness, were satisfied with the feedback training, and considered the system useful. However, the combined feedback group had slightly lower ratings of motivation and more negative experiences of the corrective feedback itself compared to the corrective feedback group. Both groups had positive experiences with the encouraging feedback. Future research should consider investigating the long-term learning effects of using solely corrective or encouraging accumulated feedback for work technique training with such systems.
•Rental-based collaborative consumption is studied for renting in business-to-business context.•Renting behaviour of workwear garments is studied from inventory and product movement ...perspectives.•Discrete event simulations are used for analyzing the product lifetime.
Increasing population and improving living standards have continued to amplify the consumption of textiles and apparel, which has created challenges in resource management and sustainable development. In this context, renting-based collaborative consumption business models (CCBMs) have received considerable attention in recent times. Consumption through renting allows the replacement of ‘ownership’ of a product to ‘usership’ which creates new opportunities for the companies as well as for the customers. For the development of renting-based CCBMs or decision making in rental activities by the companies, one of the fundamental requirements is the baseline characterization of consumers’ renting pattern – which includes general rent duration, renting frequency, inventory management, rental product movement, etc. – that acts as input from the operational aspect of a rental business. In this context, the paper aims at investigating the general renting characteristics for workwear garments through data analysis of about 5.4 million garment-rents to multiple business customers over 6 years. Further, the implications of the renting characteristics are investigated through discrete event simulations under various scenarios of inventory management by the customers. The findings from the study are anticipated to help the rental companies in operational and strategic decision-making.
Cooling workwear using phase change materials (PCMs) was designed for miners in hot underground mines. A new arrangement of PCM packs was introduced that used 15 °C PCMs as the inner layer and 23 °C ...PCMs as the outer layer (15&23). Its performance was investigated using thermal manikin and human subject tests by comparison with clothing without PCMs (CON), with 15 °C PCMs (15&15) and with melted PCMs (mPCM) in a climate chamber (30 °C, 80% relative humidity). The PCM cooling workwear significantly increased the manikin heat loss, attenuated the rise of skin temperatures and improved thermal sensation and comfort. The cooling duration was extended in 15&23 as compared with 15&15. The added PCMs did not affect the perceptual exertion and body mobility. In summary, cooling workwear using PCMs with different temperatures can be an effective option for miners' personal cooling in a hot and humid environment.
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