On-site personal protective equipment signage and use by road construction workers in Ghana: a comparative study of foreign- and locally-owned companies

Background Road construction work has specific risks and safety issues which have not been adequately addressed in most low- and middle-income countries, especially Africa. The objective of this study was to determine the prevalence of personal protective equipment (PPE) use during road construction activities by workers in foreign- owned against locally-owned road construction companies in Ghana. Methods An institution-based cross-sectional survey was undertaken during January – March, 2020 to study 389 road construction workers who were actively working on site. They were unobtrusively observed to capture whether or not they wore the appropriate PPE at the time of the survey. The PPE of interest were: hard hat, goggles, shoes, nose masks, hearing protection, gloves and reflective vests/apparel. On-site posted PPE signage was also checked. Results Majority of workers were males (96.9%) and labourers (53.5%). Similar numbers of workers in locally-owned (195) and foreign-owned (194) companies were studied. Use of PPE varied considerably by type: shoes (78.7%), reflective vest (44.5%), gloves (30.6%), hard hat (27.0%), nose mask (17.2%), goggles (11.3%) and hearing protection (10.8%). For all types of PPE, use was higher for workers in foreign-owned companies compared with locally-owned companies: goggles (Odds ratio [OR] 55.2), hearing protection (OR 52.0), gloves (OR 23.7), hard hat (OR 20.2), nose mask (OR 17.8), reflective vest (OR 5.3) and shoes (OR 4.1), (p<0.001 for all ORs). No site had any signage to promote PPE use. Conclusions Majority of workers used shoes. Less than half of workers used other types of PPE and use of some types (goggles and hearing protection) was minimal. Workers in foreign-owned companies were significantly more likely to use all the seven types of PPE than locally-owned companies. Although there is still room for improvement in foreign-owned companies, locally-owned companies should be able to attain similar PPE use to that in foreign-owned companies. Necessary PPE should be provided and site supervisors should encourage workers to wear PPE when on site.

Autonomous Detection System for Non-Hard-Hat Use at Construction Sites Using Sensor Technology

In this study, we present a novel method of detecting hard hat use on construction sites using a modified version of an off-the-shelf wearable device. The data-transmitting node of the device contained two sensors, a photoplethysmogram (PPG) and accelerometers (Acc), along with two modules, a global positioning system (GPS) and a low-power wide-area (LoRa) network module. All the components were embedded into a microcontroller unit (MCU) in addition to the power supply. The receiving node included a server that displayed the results via both the Internet of Things (IoT) and smartphones. The LoRa network connected two nodes so that it could function in larger areas such as construction sites at a relatively low cost. The proposed method analyzes the data from a PPG sensor located on the hard hat chin strap and automatically notifies a manager when a worker is not wearing the required hard hat at the site. In addition, by utilizing the PPG sensor data, a heart rate abnormality-detecting feature was added based on an age-adjusted maximum heart rate formula. In validation tests, various PPG sensor locations and shapes were studied, and the results demonstrated the smallest error in the circular shaped sensor located at the upper neck (0.56%). Finally, an IoT monitoring page was created to monitor heart rate abnormalities while identifying hard hat use violations via both PCs and smart phones.

On-Site Personal Protective Equipment Signage and Use by Road Construction Workers in Ghana: A Comparative Study of Foreign- and Locally-Owned Companies

Background: Road construction work has its own specific set of risks and safety issues. It has not been adequately addressed in most low- and middle-income countries, especially in Africa. The objective of this study was to determine the prevalence of personal protective equipment (PPE) use during road construction activities by workers in foreign-owned against locally-owned road construction companies in Ghana.Methods: An institution-based cross-sectional survey was undertaken during January – March, 2020 to study 389 road construction workers who were actively working on site. They were unobtrusively observed to capture whether or not they wore the appropriate PPE at the time of the survey. The PPE of interest were: hard hat, goggles, shoes, nose masks, hearing protection, gloves, and reflective vests/apparel. On-site posted PPE signage was also checked. Results: Majority of workers were labourers (53.5%) and males (96.9%). Similar numbers of workers in foreign-owned (194) and locally-owned (195) companies were studied. Use of PPE varied considerably by type: goggles (11.3%), hard hat (27.0%), safety shoes (78.7%), gloves (30.6%), hearing protection (10.8%), reflective vest (44.5%) and nose mask (17.2%). For all types of PPE, use was higher among workers in foreign-owned companies compared with locally-owned companies: goggles (Odds ratio [OR] 55.2), hard hat (OR 20.2), safety shoes (OR 4.1), gloves (OR 23.7), hearing protection (OR 52.0), reflective vest (OR 5.3) and nose mask (OR 17.8) (p<0.001 for all ORs). No site had any signage to promote PPE use. Conclusions: Majority of workers used safety shoes. Less than half of workers used other types of PPE and use of some types (goggles and hearing protection) was minimal. Workers in foreign-owned companies were significantly more likely to use all of the types of PPE. Although there is still room for improvement in foreign-owned companies, locally-owned companies should be able to attain similar PPE use to that in foreign-owned companies. Road construction companies should place a premium on health and safety issues by hiring safety managers with professional training, providing staff with PPE, and training them on proper usage, as well as adopting safety protocols.