The devices, worn on the arms of 28 Garney workers at 10 work sites throughout the United States, monitor key physiological indicators of each worker, including core body temperature, heart rate and exertion level.

Garney Construction, based in North Kansas City, Mo., with a singular focus on water and wastewater construction, is interested in keeping its employee-owners as safe as possible on the job.

Recently, the company added a new element to its already robust safety programs by testing new wearable technology smart devices. The devices, worn on the arms of 28 Garney workers at 10 work sites throughout the United States, are manufactured by Kenzen. They monitor key physiological indicators of each worker, including core body temperature, heart rate and exertion level. Detecting changes in these factors can lead to proactive prediction and prevention of heat injuries and illnesses, including fatalities.

"We're committed to continually evaluating new methods of protecting our employee-owners and incorporating the best solutions available," said Ryan Smith, regional safety manager at Garney who coordinated the proof-of-concept project with the company's environmental health and safety (EHS) leaders and regional project supervisors.

"We're looking to add more prevention approaches to our systems, which now include education and training, hydration, monitoring atmospheric and ambient heat, and cooling stations."

Data from the wearable sensors provide alerts to workers by sending vibrations to the device and notifications to their smart phones, and to supervisors via their phones and a web dashboard that provides real-time heat health status of all team members.

Alerts escalate from an initial "stop work"message to rest and hydrate, to subsequent alerts for additional measures to avoid emergency situations. Follow-up alerts indicate when a person's core body temperature has returned to a safe level for resuming work.

Cumulative data can be analyzed by EHS leaders at the company to detect patterns and customize heat stress prevention and treatment strategies at various locations — from the dry heat of Arizona, to the extreme heat of the Texas sun, to the hot humidity of Florida, and heat conditions at Colorado altitudes.

Garney used the location-specific information to adjust break times and educate employee-owners on steps they can taketo protect themselves, such as how to acclimatize to warm working conditions when coming onto a work site, and best clothing choices. Although Kenzen collects large amounts of physiological data from each worker, varying levels of information are provided to different viewers to protect workers' rights, especially with regard to the privacy of their personal health information.

"Garney is on the leading edge of bringing technology into the safety equation," said Heidi Lehmann, cofounder of Kenzen. "Because Garney is owned by its employees, all were involved in the decision and all are interested in advancing their business through increased safety and productivity."

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