Designing for Workplace Safety - Exploring Interactive Textiles as Personal Alert Systems.

Despite various safety regulations and procedures, work accidents remain a significant problem in the global process industry and the Swedish steel industry. To address personal safety and safety culture, wearable alert systems were prototyped and tested with steelworkers in iterative workshops. A resulting design concept, in the form of an interactive textile patch worn on the protective gear, suggests a simple way of transmitting personal alerts using light. A crucial design factor identified is to enable the communication between workers and peers as well as communicating with control room staff. The visual design can positively influence the acceptance of the patch, but its impact on the safety culture cannot yet be assessed. The present study contributes by approaching workplace safety and culture with a new design concept of IoT and e-textile technologies based on the interaction modalities of light, sound, and vibration