Sensor networks or smart artifacts? : An exploration of organizational issues of an industrial health and safety monitoring system

Kortuem, Gerd and Alford, David and Ball, Linden and Busby, Jerry and Davies, Nigel and Efstratiou, Christos and Finney, Joe and Iszatt-White, Marian and Kinder, Katharina (2007) Sensor networks or smart artifacts? : An exploration of organizational issues of an industrial health and safety monitoring system. In: UbiComp 2007: Ubiquitous Computing, 9th International Conference, 2007-09-16 - 2007-09-19.

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Abstract

Industrial health and safety is an important yet largely unexplored application area of ubiquitous computing. In this paper we investigate the relationship between technology and organization in the context of a concrete industrial health and safety system. The system is designed to reduce the number of incidents of "�vibration white finger"� (VWF) at construction sites and uses wireless sensor nodes for monitoring workers'� exposure to vibrations and testing of compliance with legal health and safety regulations. In particular we investigate the impact of this ubiquitous technology on the relationship between management and operatives, the formulation of health and safety rules and the risk perception and risk behavior of operatives. In addition, we contrast sensor-network inspired and smart artifact inspired compliance systems, and make the case that these technology models have a strong influence on the linkage between technology and organization.

Item Type:
Contribution to Conference (Paper)
Journal or Publication Title:
UbiComp 2007: Ubiquitous Computing, 9th International Conference
Uncontrolled Keywords:
/dk/atira/pure/researchoutput/libraryofcongress/qa75
Subjects:
?? cs_eprint_id1591 cs_uid382qa75 electronic computers. computer science ??
ID Code:
13020
Deposited By:
Deposited On:
26 Jun 2008 14:36
Refereed?:
Yes
Published?:
Published
Last Modified:
02 Mar 2024 01:52