Improving Occupational Safety of the Metallurgical Enterprises Workers by the Methods of Monitoring the Psychophysiological Parameters of an Employee in Real Time

Abstract

Presented are the developments using methods of monitoring the psychophysiological state of a person that are designed to improve the work safety of the employees at the metallurgical enterprises. A wearable device was developed for taking readings of the psychophysiological reactions (pulse, galvanic skin response, body and environmental temperature, etc.), and for determining the location of an employee within the production area in real time. The device can also record a sharp change in the position of a person in space, which indirectly indicates an emergency. The device indicates and reads changes throughout the shift and transfers to the server; when one of the monitored parameters increases, a message is generated on the operator monitor about a problem in the employee condition and his location. Previously developed program «System for monitoring the psychophysiological state of an operator at the metallurgical industry» with the help of a software processes the information from the device and warns the operator about the occurred hazard, and, also, suggests the ways for solving the problem. However, the decision itself remains with the operator. Under the conditions of working process modeling using the given parameters, the situations (accidents, personnel selection) were simulated that were close to real ones, which allowed to conduct a comparative analysis of the maximum and minimum permissible characteristics of the psychophysiological reactions for the employees of the metallurgical production. The developed device and monitoring system can significantly reduce (or completely prevent) the number of errors and accidents at the production site that are provoked by the influence of the human factor.